Crippled
by nb1998
Summary: This is a story about the boy from district 10 in the 74th Hunger Games. Barney Tenton is just an average boy who gets a Crippled foot but when he is reaped it all changes as he finds a friend in his district partner and it seems Katniss isn't the only one planning a rebellion. Off canon to the book.
1. Killer at the reaping?

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games trilogy**

The peacekeeper stands on the stage and points his gun towards me. Not towards the crowd, towards me. I shakily lift my hands above my head and his eyes follow my fingers as they slowly outstretch from balls of fury. He nods his head and chuckles to himself a little. He presses a small black band towards his mouth and says something inaudible into it, then he screams at the crowd to shut up. Some continue to whisper but all eyes are on me. Why is the gun pointing towards me? An 18 year old boy, I breathe some air into my lungs and cough a few times ready to speak. I open my mouth ready when I hear the trigger, I duck down quickly and a scream rings out behind me. A small, frail, innocent old woman falls to the floor in agony and I run towards her. I don't think to turn around because my only concern is helping this woman, I search her body for the bullet hole and find it just below her collar bone. I press two of my fingers in the hole and drag a burning bullet out. It seems to nip me as I throw it to the floor and I hear the trigger being pulled again as a bullet hits my foot.

My head whips around quickly as I try not to think about the pain and the peacekeeper has gone, I take time to notice the hundreds of people running round screaming and the only people who seem to not be are the ones who have actually been shot. I grit my teeth waiting for the pain to go away but hope of that is pointless. We were never told why we were called here, everyone will think that it was to do with me now. Maybe it was. Was it? Then what did I do? I once again press my finger into the bullet wound and throw the bullet out. I hear it click the floor and I look around. No-one is here anymore, they've all left but I can still see them in the distance. I hold onto the old woman's arm and her eyes begin to fade away.

"Stop it!," I almost scream at her suddenly changing my attitude towards the whole situation, she opens her eyes and her mouth drops down into a semi-circle shape. I tell her to wait and I manage to hop myself all the way to the house of healing. I pound my fist against the door until a small woman with a clipboard and glasses answers.

"Hello young man," she says eyeing me from head to toe. She pulls a shocked face, "Oh my, what on earth has happened to your foot. Come inside I will help you," she says waving her hand inside the door. I begin to walk in forgetting why I'm here and then I stop.

"No, who cares about my foot?, I'm here about an old woman in the square, she's been shot in the chest," I say dragging her out of the door. The woman backs herself away and singles with her finger to me that she will be a minute. About two minutes after she runs out of the house with a lot of different devices I have never seen before. I hop after her to the square and when I get there the healer woman is already pumping away at the old woman's heart. I lean over them and the old woman is groaning and tears are flowing out of the healers eyes.

"What's her name?" I ask nodding my head towards the old woman. The healer stops and turns towards me.

"Evoria Stye, my Mother," she says quickly turning back to helping her. Her mother? That explains the tears and what if she dies it will be all my fault. I am forced to sit and watch for another hour before Evoria fills the area with coughs and leans up.

"Thank you," she says to her daughter clinging onto her hands. Droplets of blood are still coming out of her bullet wound but her heart seems to be back to normal. The healer gets out a few bandages and presses onto the wounds. Evoria breathes a sigh of relief and presses her hand against the bandage not wanting to let go. My heart seems to stop every time she coughs and she is took back to the healing house which turns out to be her house as well. It turns out that the daughter, who is called Aya, didn't have to turn up at the town square because of an old man she had to see to in a critical condition. I sit on the visitors chair and Evoria doesn't pay attention to me, not looking once. I start to think why I'm even here and after another half an hour someone pays attention to me.

"What about your foot, you want some bandages?" Aya says looking from my eyes to my foot. I nod my head and she jogs over wrapping atleast seven bandages around. The whole time Evoria doesn't look at me, not at all. Her eyes stare forward and it's as if she is training herself not to look at me. Is it because of what I've done that I don't know? The same reason the gun was pointed at me. Aya walks away after the old man calls for her and I'm left in the room with Evoria. The door slams shut and Evoria flinches. I pick myself up onto my good foot and Evoria turns her head further to the left so not to look at me. I want to shout at her but I can't not after it was me that almost killed her. I hop myself over to the door and turn to Evoria. She is now completely looking the other way out of the window behind her and I cough a few times. I try to open the door without looking and I hear a latch click shut, Evoria's head turns instantly to the latch and I pull at it to open. Suddenly the key falls out of the opening and a small cover springs over the hole so I can't open it. I try everything I can to open the door but it won't budge and I fear looking around to see Evoria's reaction.

I wait a while to turn around and when I do I see Evoria cowering under her quilt and I finally pick up the courage to say something.

"Do you have a spare key?" I say sounding a bit angry even if I don't mean it. She shakes a little and starts fiddling around at the window opener. I run towards her and she drives her hand into my stomach. I fall back onto the floor and my head hits off the end of a drawer. Yellow covers my sight and black dots begin to fill up one after another until I can no longer think.

I don't know how long I was out for but when I wake up a small spotlight is shining in my eyes and my arms are strapped to a table. I try to move my eyes out of the light but they follow me and after a few minutes I figure it to be useless.

"Why did you kill them?" I hear an unfamiliar voice say. It's an old man's voice so can't be Evoria or Aya but the smell tells me I'm still in the healers house. It dawns on me what the voice actually said, "Why did you kill them?" the voice repeats in a more serious tone. I hear whispering and turn my head towards where I think it came from. The light isn't fast enough to follow my sudden reaction and I manage to see three shadows in the corner of the room before the light reappears over my eyes. I squint for a bit until my sight seems to go blotchy and I tighten them shut.

"Kill who?" I say finally. I hear some gasps in the corner of the room and I don't even give them the pleasure of looking towards them.

"Don't play games with me boy, you know who you killed now tell me why," he twists my bad foot and I scream in pain. I hear him laugh a little and then everything goes silent.

"If you twist my foot again I'll kick you so hard in the privates that it will never stop hurting," I spit at him. He makes a growling noise then slams his fist into my privates. I twist about and scream and the pain is the worse I've ever had in my life. I kick about at open air and I lift my knee to my head, hitting it until my eyes black out. Unconsciousness is better than the pain I'm in.

I wake up in the middle of a empty field, I've been throw into a cow's crap and a small piece of paper in a glass box has been lodged into my chest in the same place Evoria was shot, so whoever they are blaming Evoria's shooting on me. I pull the spiked corner out of my chest and some blood rises to the surface. I wipe it away before it manages to go any further and I pull the small piece of paper out of the box. I unfold it and it turns out to be quite big. It's a small letter written out. It reads:

You might think that you have gotten away from us now that we have left me here but you haven't. Your crimes have not went unnoticed and you will be punished in the worst way we can think. Killing them wasn't a good move and we are sure you will regret your past choices when you find out your punishment tomorrow. Don't come back to the healers house or you will be shot. From all of us have a nice day tomorrow. From your enemy.

The letter makes me stand up quickly and I hop back to my house without a second thought. I slam the door shut as soon as I'm inside I crumple the piece of paper up throwing it into the bin. I walk into the kitchen smiling trying to hide my obvious limp.

"What've you done to your foot?" my Mam says throwing a sausage back onto the grill, "And where have you been all day? I was worried you know I thought it might have been you that was shot," my eyes fall down to the floor and she can see my lies straight away. "You were shot, weren't you? Are you stupid? Why didn't you run out of the firing line? Any idiot could," she shouts at me all at once. I keep my head towards the floor and before I know it Mam has my foot up on top of the bench.

"I went to the healers house," I say just as she sees the bandages on my foot. She pushes my foot off the bench and stares at me in a look which I believe to be disbelief.

"Are you stupid? I'll be getting a letter tomorrow with the bill, thanks a lot. I have bandages here you know," she says angrily. She doesn't give me time to say anything before she is talking again, "You know, it's bad enough your Dad going missing and now your just throwing away money for the sake of it," she shakes her head in disbelief.

"I'm sorry," I say trying not to think about the letter but it's hard for me. I wait for the little joke she always says to me after a rant but it takes her a while before she says one.

"I should have thought about you taking extra tesserae tomorrow, I thought I had the money," she says laughing to herself. I don't find the joke funny for a change though because it reminds me of the games and the chances of me going in. I haven't thought of the games once today but Mam has just made my day even worse and my thoughts start to bind together into the horrible letter and me getting reaped.

"I'm going to bed," I say forgetting about tea and just wanting to end this horrible day. I hop myself up the stairs and dump myself on my bed, the soft mattress sinks underneath my weight and it feels good. I close my eyes and count the chances of me getting reaped until I drift away.

I wake up due to the sound of a cow mooing loudly in the distance and I sit up quickly searching for my wrist watch. I grab it from the bedside table and it's only 6 o'clock. The reaping is at 10 so I have plenty of time, I jump out of bed and collapse to the floor, I forgot about my bad foot and I now seem not to be able to move it. I sit on the floor for a while until my Mam comes in at about 7. She picks me up and places me on the bed. Her hot breath seems to stain the air and I find it hard to breathe. She replaces my old bandages with new ones and stands me up.

"Press down on your bad foot darling," she says beckoning her hand towards my foot. I balance slightly on the foot and although a little pain goes right through me I just tell her it's ok. I walk down the stairs into the kitchen and eat my breakfast which is only a slice of bread. Time seems to go by quickly as all I can think about at the minute is my enemies but I don't like to call them that because they aren't. In fact the highlight of the morning seems to be my Mam humming a catchy tune to herself while she picked out my reaping clothes.

At ten minutes to ten my Mam opens the front door and I walk out without a word. It's like this every year, only normally Dad walks out after me. I can't help but wonder where Dad has gone but Mam isn't concerned so why should I be? I try to hide the obvious limp I've got but it's hard when everyone you walk past looks at you oddly. It doesn't take me too long to get to the town square and I get my finger pricked for identification by one of the peacekeepers. He takes longer than he did for others and when he sees my name he shakes his head slightly. I try to ignore little things like this because I think it probablys has something to do with Dad.

I hobble over to the 18 year old boys section and slump down onto the floor. Dust surrounds me and coats my tanned skin, I brush it away with the side of my hand and stand up as an old man walks onto the stage. A few weeks ago we got told they would be electing a new mayor after the last one died and that he would be revealed at the reaping so this must me him. He looks quite intelligent as old men do, his shoulders slump over his back and his eyes hover the area like a camera. He coughs a few times then speaks.

"Welcome," he starts and I know that voice, where do I know it from? I scan my mind for answers, he is the enemy. I feel my hands tighten into fists at the thought of the spiked box in my chest, being interrogated and thrown into cow crap. I release my hands and I see he looks at me before starting again. "I am the new mayor, Jeremy Stye," he says smiling. I know that last name and judging by his age he must be Evoria's husband and Aya's Mam. I wait for him to look at me again while he continues to speak but he never does and I continue to wonder, who have I killed? No I haven't killed anyone, what am I thinking? Who do they think I've killed? I want answers but getting any now is impossible and I'll have to follow him after the reaping.

His speech seems to go on for awhile because he talks about the treaty of treason and when he is finished there is a small round of applause from the far corner of the square. I try to look above the crowds and although I'm 5'8 and in a group of 18 year olds from district 10 it isn't very big. The mayor waves his hand towards the escort who suddenly pops out from behind a high robe squealing with excitement. Many people give her dagger looks and she calms down relaxing herself with hand movements.

"Welcome district 10, to our reaping for the 74th Annual Hunger Games," she says beaming, "my name is Georgie Treylor and I will once again be your escort to the games." She stops for a round of applause and once again only the far corner responds. Georgie shows us a video of how we have risen from the dark days and repeats every word like it is a solemn oath.

"Okay everybody let's get started, men first I think," she says winking at the boys section. She tip-toes over to the ball on her right and picks out the first slip that comes into her hands. She looks at the crowd and right now I'm not even thinking about whether it will be me or not but now my thoughts have turned to what my punishment will be today. Work? Prison? Humiliation?

"Barney Tenton," no my punishment is the Hunger Games because I'm Barney Tenton and this can only be a fix. I look towards Jeremy who I can see is laughing underneath his beard. How much I would love to run up there and smack him across the face. I can't do it though, one- I can't run I can only hobble or limp, two- I'd get pulled away by peacekeepers and arrested. I start to hobble my way towards the stage trying not to put too much weight on my bad foot and I can hear gasps that someone with a crippled foot is going to the games. I don't look at anyone but Jeremy and I finally make my way onto the stage.

"Congratulations," Georgie says holding out a boney hand. I grip onto it and shake almost breaking her bones in the process. She pulls back quickly and rubs where my hand has made a slight bruise.

"Now then, one down one to go onto our lucky girls," She digs her hand into the smaller bowl of girls and picks out two slips of paper by mistake. She tilts her hands left to right like she can't decide then put one on the side of the bowl to balance. "Okay then our female tribute is... Dakota Hood," she almost screams.

A small whimper is heard in the crowd and a girl with brown hair who is about 5'4 walks out of the 15 year old girls section. I recognize the face but the name seems unknown to me. She walks up onto the stage next to me clutching onto a silver locket and Georgie asks us to shake hands. I place my hand out in front of me and she looks down to my foot, a weak smile appears across her face and she shakes my hand.

"Congratulations to this years district 10 tributes... Barney Tenton and Dakota Hood," Georgie shouts. She suddenly grabs hold of our arms and whisks us behind the robe she came out of. Dakota is taken into a room with a purple door while my door is orange. I hobble in and take a seat on a red couch sprinkled in sparkly dust. I brush it away from near me and suddenly my Mam rushes in. I feel her grip onto me and push me back before I can say anything and tears are rolling onto my face. I hold my own tears back though.

"Barney you'll win this," she says wiping the tears away trying to smile.

"Mam, my foot..."

"Never mind about your foot, you run away from the Cornucopia and just get food and drink that's all you need. By the time it's down to the last two of you your foot will be fine," she says too quickly sounding desperate.

I nod my head knowing what she says can't happen but I can't let her hopes down, "You'll be by yourself Mam."

"Dad will come back."

"And what if he doesn't and I don't come out, then what?"

"That won't happen Barney both of you will be back soon, I promise."

"I'll try," I whimper trying not to look her in the eye.

"Trying is the best you can do, and your best can win you this."

Suddenly a large peacekeeper comes into the room and pulls Mam away, I can't say another word because nothing will come out. One lone tear falls down my face and I flick it away waiting for Georgie to come in. I wait for a while and suddenly the door creaks open and the person I least want to see comes in.

"Hello Barney," he says in a croaked voice, "I think we need a little chat don't you."

"Mayor Stye," I say scanning him from head to foot, "Don't you think my punishment is a bit harsh," I say standing up now trying to hold my temper.

"No not at all, killing them wasn't the right thing to do Barney," he says angrily now.

I hobble towards him until our eyes are just a metre apart. I lunge forward and shove his neck against the wall and he begins to laugh as I choke him. "First you killed the children now your going to kill the mayor, well you might have a fair shot in the games. If you had a good foot that was," he says still smiling.

"I didn't kill no children," I say gritting my teeth, "what are you talking about."

I'm suddenly pushed onto my back and he claps his hands together.

"Good luck in the games Barney, remember though - killing them that day wasn't the right choice."

**A/N: Thanks for reading the first chapter of my story and please review as I would really like to hear some feedback.**


	2. Some real, some fake

Thoughts still ring through my head of who he thinks I might have killed. The door slams shut behind me as I walk down the narrow corridor trying to pretend like nothing has happened. I begin to hear small puffs of steam and the train comes into my vision. I've never seen one properly before and it's a sight that someone from district 10 would happily look at for hours. Small, delicate windows are placed accurately on each carriage - outlined with a small layer of a crimsoned colour paint. Doors swiping in and out as you walk closer to them and each time the sun glints into your eyes creating a light display. I continue to marvel at the sight of the train and I can't wait to go inside. All realization of where I'm actually heading is lost somewhere inside my head as I step my foot onto the soft carpet. My other foot follows in a burst of agonizing pain and the door clinks shut behind me giving me a shock. My crippled foot gives way and I fall forward through a silk curtain and land on a large couch where two people sit.

Tredd holds his hand out in front of me, "I'll be your mentor," he says in a gruff voice. I grip onto it tightly and nod my head at him. Tredd won the 60th Hunger Games after wild cow mutts burst into the arena and he knew exactly how to deal with them having been from district 10. He never killed anyone as the tribute left in the bottom two with him was killed by the mutts.

I let go of Tredd's hand and look towards the young girl sitting next to him - our latest victor Steff Dinisjon.

"Hi," I say trying not to look at her in the eye. In the games one of her eyes was hacked out by a career tribute and she won by repeatedly stabbing him in the back. I hear her say hi back under her breath but that's all.

"Ok," Tredd says looking at his watch, "it's quarter past 11 now so if you come here at 12 they'll be something to eat and I can talk to you about the games," he says smiling a little. I nod my head and clamber myself across the couch and out of the door. I begin to walk down the corridor in a more relaxed hobble so it almost looks like I'm walking properly. Suddenly a leg sticks out in front of me, I don't have time to react and fall onto my face. I hear Dakota giggling and I pull myself up failing to keep a straight face.

"We need to talk," she says seriously after giggling for another minute. She holds her hand out in front of me and I pull myself up to my feet. I look into her eyes for just a glimpse of a second and all I can see is worry. I hobble into her room and plant myself onto the bed so that the TV is in front of me. I hear the door close and Dakota sits behind me.

"What do we need to talk about?" I say in a low voice.

"Your Dad," she says uncreasing the bed around her.

"What do you know about my Dad, where he is? What do I care?" I say turning away from her. She tugs me back so that I'm facing her and shakes her head.

"No I don't know where he is but I do know what he's done," she bites her bottom lip like she doesn't want to carry on.

"Tell me what he's done," I almost shout but I know what he's done. It all seems so obvious now - he must of killed them not me like the mayor thinks but him. Anger rises up in me and I can see Dakota's fear.

"How do you know?" I ask before she can say anything to me.

"I work for him in the barns. I'm one of many apprentices that worked for him in the barns but now I'm the only one left. On the morning all twenty five of us gathered as normal outside the school then we headed over to the barn. We arrived as normal and sat down on the hay bales inside the barn waiting for Mr.. Tenton to come in," she says in short stuttery sentences and I can tell that it hurts her to say what happens next. What happens next is my Dad kills them. It's all coming back to me now though a few days ago he woke up in a bad mood and went to the barn to his apprentice class. He never came back.

"Then... th.. then we all heard the roar of the tractor and it got closer and closer and closer. People were laughing, I was laughing. We thought it was a joke then the tractor smashed into the side of the building and a large pipe fell from the ceiling. I jumped out of the way in time and the pipe crushed eighteen of my fellow apprentices. Seven of us had escaped the pipe but we didn't have time to mourn our dead friends as more pipes began to fall. I began to run for the door and I could hear screams behind me and a puff of gas escaped one of the pipes going straight into the boy next to me's lungs. I screamed and ran out of the door just before the whole building fell to the ground," she says and tears are coming from her eyes now. I feel guilty because it was my Dad.

"I'm so sorr..." I start but she begins to speak.

"And he looked at me as he escaped through a small gap in the fence, he looked mad and before I knew it the mayor was here asking me who done it and I was in so must shock I could only choke out the word Tenton," she says crying more and more. She escaped death so narrowly and now she is going to die at the hands of the Capitol. And I should be feeling sorry for her and I do but my mind will only think that she only said 'Tenton' so the mayor assumed it was me and now I'm going into the Hunger Games for it. So why is she? I know it's a fix that I'm going in but what about her?

"I know your not like your Dad but I thought you might have wanted to know the truth," she says wiping away the last few tears from her face. She fumbles her hand around the bed for the remote and clicks a red button at the top. The TV suddenly flashes on and she changes the channel to the reapings.

"May as well check out our competition," she says sniffling. I nod my head at her and the first reaping comes onto the screen.

The district 1 male is called Marvel, a 6'3, 17 year old volunteer. I'm one year older than him but that means nothing since I'm from 10 and he's from 1. He pushes past many boys to get onto the stage and when he does gives out a battle cry that must be deafening for the people in district 1. He begins to flash his muscles to the cameras as the district 1 female is picked. A beautiful blonde haired girl called Glimmer volunteers and winks to the boys as she walks past them. I try not to think about her beauty but just at the fact she has trained for years to come into the arena an kill people like me. She speaks sweetly to the escort and I'm almost buying it.

"She's such a fake, she'd kill you without a second thought," Dakota warns me and I nod my head in agreement.

Next is district 2 and once again both are volunteers. A brutal looking blonde haired boy lunges forward onto the stage to volunteer and tells his district that he is going to win it for them. I look at Dakota a little intimidated by him but her eyes remain locked on the screen as a small girl bounces out of the 15 year old section and makes her way to the stage. She smiles evilly at the cameras and refuses to let anyone volunteer for her but the look on the boy's face shows that they know each other. The two of them shake hands and the boy shakes his head at her as she continues to smile at the crowd. They burst into applause and the district 3 reaping comes onto the screen.

The name of Kalia Prescott is projected loudly and a tall girl from the 13 year old section makes her way onto the stage. Her back is slumped over in defeat but her eyes tell a different story as she glares at the escort. She lifts her head up as the escort begins to speak to the crowd and for the first time you can see how nervous she is, she looks from one person to another in the crowd and her hands are tugging at her short dress. I hear Dakota mumbling something under her breath but I don't have time to ask because the district 3 boy is called. A boy called Noah Nelson makes his way onto the stage he whips his thick brown hair out of his eyes and tries to look brave. His fingers fidget in and out of his pockets and the two of them shake hands.

District 4 comes up next and the very skinny escort picks out a 13 year old boy who begins to shake rapidly. People begin to shout and scream as many push forward to get onto the stage and volunteer but a small curly haired 12 year old boy gets on the stage first due to being right next to the step and shouts 'I volunteer'. I hear most of the 18 year olds and 17 year olds begin to moan having lost the chance to volunteer to a 13 year old and the boy who has said his name is Ethan smiles to the cameras waving his hand to everyone. After more moaning from the crowd people begin to shout at the fact they have a 13 year old representing them but peacekeepers aim guns at the crowd and everything begins to calm down. During all the chaos no-one seems to notice the escort picking out a name of the female tribute and a sneaky 16 year old with brown hair makes her way onto the stage to volunteer. There is more uproar at the fact the escort did the girl's reaping so quietly and the two tributes are taken behind the stage before anything worse will happen. The sound quietens and soon most people seem to depart the beach they are standing on like nothing has happened. I look over to Dakota and she is smiling at the screen.

"I wonder how they'll do then," I say nodding my head towards the screen.

She shrugs her shoulders effortlessly and says, "Volunteers are always good don't under estimate that boy - it doesn't matter that he's 12 all you concentrate on is the fact that he has volunteered to kill and the same goes for the sneaky girl, I think I heard the escort call her Tara before she left." I simply nod my head to Dakota's advice and I wonder why she is telling me any of this. So far I have been stupid enough to fall for the beauty of the district 1 female and thought that a 12 year old wouldn't kill but Dakota has helped me see the real side of them. Why? Is it because of my Dad? Does she feel sorry for me? I realism that I have been staring at her for quite some time and I turn my head back to the screen where the escort from district 5 is picking out the female tribute.

A red haired girl who has a slight resemblance to a fox makes her way onto the stage as the name 'Finch Emerson' is called. Her amber eyes stay trained on the floor in front of her although any trace of a tear appearing from them is non-existent. The escort dives her hand into the ball of boy's names and shouts at the top of her lungs "Chris Mark" a boy with thick brown hair makes his way out of the 15 year old boy's section and onto the stage. He smiles at the crowd and looks completely unfazed by the fact he is probably going to die. I don't know what to think about these two tributes though, the girl seems sly and the boy seems to enjoy the fact he is going into the games. At his point I'm not underestimating anyone.

A large sound of mechanics bursts out of the TV and I snatch the control from Dakota. I turn the TV down and I realism that the noise is the sound of district 6. District 6 make all the transportation for the Capitol meaning they are constantly making different parts using high-tech things and testing it out. The escort who is clearly knew to her surroundings in district 6 holds her fingers to her ears and the people of district 6 begin to shake her head at her and rightly so. She has came to district 6 for just one day and she is complaining while all them have to live there the whole life. The escort looks at all of them strangely and picks out the name of the female tribute. "Kara Peterson" she calls to the crowd. No-one comes forward for about half a minute until a 17 year old with blonde hair and serious looking eyes is pushed into the aisle and peacekeepers quickly push her up onto the stage. Tears begin to fall from her eyes and so far she is the only tribute I have seen cry at the reaping. The escort pretends to care for her and tells her where to stand before quickly rushing over to the boy's bowl of names. The escort pulls out a small slip and reads the name "Jason Moio" and points her hand at the boy who appears walking down the path made for him. The boy is once again 17 and has a determined look on his face. He isn't somebody you would like to find yourself in a fight with and is definitely someone I don't want to come across the arena. He stomps his feet hard against the steps as he makes his way onto the stage and walks past the escort without looking at her. He places his feet on the X on the stage and the two tributes shake hands. The girl has stopped crying now and they walk down the steps into a small tent.

"What time is it?" I ask Dakota as the commercial break comes on.

"Can you not tell the time?" she jokes pointing at the clock above me on the wall. It's quarter to 12 which means we have fifteen minutes before we have to go and see our mentors.

"We've got fifteen minutes then," I say to Dakota.

"This finishes at five to 12 anyway so we'll be fine," she says smiling. I nod my head and the commercial break ends.

The trees of district 7 pop up onto the screen and below them hundreds of kids look around worried. A small man appears on the screen and without saying a single word to anybody picks out a slip from one of the bowls. He announces the name 'Sam Ly', people cry out in shock and horror as a boy wearing a highly expensive suit makes his way out of the 16 year old boys section and onto the stage. The people of district 7 whisper among themselves and on the corner of the stage I can see the mayor shedding holding his head in his hands meaning that it must be his son. The boy's eyes are only on his Dad now and the escort is trying to get his attention unsuccessfully. Sam stands awkwardly on the side of the stage staring at his Dad still and the escort picks out the female name. He says 'Leigha Hancock' in a clear voice and the crowd turns silent as a blonde haired girl with tanned skin, probablys from working in the sun all day, makes her way onto the stage. She is very small for a 16 year old but I know not to underestimate anyone so for now I only see her as competition. She pushes past Sam gently as she makes her way to the assigned X and when the two are told to shake hands she has to move Sam's hand up and down for him as he continues to stare at his Dad. The two are led off stage and the TV changes to the horrible sight of district 8.

"Ladies first as always," a sparkling voice announces. It looks so out of place for someone who is dressed in bright colours like yellow, pink, red and purple to be in a place like district 8. She probablys sees it as it making her stand out even more though. "Mackenzie Lintz," she says still smiling. A girl with determined eyes and long frizzy hair makes her way out of the 15 year old girl section and jogs to the stage gently. After such a good start though she collapses on the floor on the stage and begins to cry. The escort picks her up onto her feet and tells her that everything will be ok. It won't be though, odds are that girl will die near the beginning.

"It's an act," Dakota says looking quite proud of herself for knowing.

"How do you know?" I say to her narrowing my eyes.

"You would never change that drastically, I'm telling you she isn't afraid to kill," she says now looking at me. "Barney, you have to be careful in there you know. People aren't going to be nice like they are here, once those tributes are in there they won't be afraid to kill. You shouldn't be either, if you want to win barney you'll have to kill," she says almost angrily. I nod my head and I know that if Dakota comes across me in the arena she won't be afraid to kill but for now I'm going to have to get on with her. I want to get on with her actually and before I know what I'm asking I say it.

"Do you want to be allies?"

She looks at me for a little then coughs almost silently. "Yeah, that would be good. Watch the rest of this and I'll be back in a second," she rushes out of the room before I can ask her where she is going. I've got an ally though.

Suddenly my eyes are directed back to the screen as a boy from district 8 jumps out of the crowd to volunteer as a small boy is reaped. The boy says his name is Samuel Tan and walks onto the stage.

"What is your reason for volunteering?" the escort asks.

"My life is not worth living while that young boy has so much left to see, if I die in this arena then so be it. I'll die knowing I saved a young boy's life," he shouts to the crowd and a few people start to clap followed by the whole of district 8 and the two tributes are taken behind some curtains, the girl tribute still crying. There hasn't been a volunteer from 8 in a while and to be honest he doesn't look bad and probablys someone who should atleast get past the bloodbath.

District 9 flashes onto the screen next. The escort begins to walk through a field with hoards of wasted grain thrown to the side to make way for the stage. The film is shown and then the escort picks out the female tribute's name. "Annie Thurman," she calls to the crowd. It takes a while but a small red haired girl walks out the 14 year old section her head draped across her face. She looks to the ground and when she gets onto the stage a few tears drop from her eyes. She wipes away her tears and holds her head up high as the escort moves over to the boy's bowl. As she sees the name on the slip she pulls a funny face and just manages to pronounce the boys name, "Imanol Yepez-Frias." A 12 year old boy with ashen hair and hazel eyes makes his way out of the 12 year old section quite quickly and onto the stage. He shakes Annie's hand as he walks past her and stands in his designated spot. People moan among themselves at the fact that a 12 year old will be going into the games but not one person volunteers. The two tributes follow the escort out of the field and they walk into a building. The TV flashes white for a split second and then I see the familiar sight of district 10.

My name is called and it's clear that my eyes are trained on the mayor the whole time. The mayor still thinks I killed those innocent kids and if I win this I need to tell him the truth. The TV shows me shake Georgie's bony hand then she screams out Dakota's name. Dakota walks onto the stage, looks at my foot and smiles at me then we are whisked behind the robe. It all seemed so much more scary at the time.

The cameras change to district 11. District 11 is one other district that I have seen. Last year when I was 17 we had fourteen cows that needed to be transported to district 11 for an unknown reason and they needed a strong boy to go with them. I was aloud to get in the back of the truck with the cows and although when we got there I only managed to see a few houses it didn't look like a very nice place. The escort from 11 picks out a boy's name. "Thresh Okeniyi," the escort calls out. A boy of my age walks out of the crowd and his muscles are bulging out of his arms. He looks like more of a threat than the careers and I feel quite intimidated by him. He walks up to the stage and looks around the crowd for someone. "Rue Stenburg," the escort says in a sweet voice. A small dark-skinned girl makes her way out of the 12 year old section and my heart drops. It's just disgusting that the Capitol make poor 12 year olds go into an arena to kill and the thing that is really sick is that some of these careers would happily kill them. "Would anyone like to volunteer for this lucky girl?" the escort asks joyfully but the district remains silent. No-one from a lower district would want to take part in the games it just doesn't happen.

Dakota walks into the room just as the district 12 reaping starts but for some reason I don't want to ask her where she has been. Once again a young 12 year old is reaped but this time there is a volunteer. A brown haired girl races out of the 16 year old section almost begging to volunteer. It turns out to be the young girl's sister, Katniss Everdeen. Peeta Mellark, a boy with blonde hair and a shocked look on his face is reaped as her male counterpart and the two tributes are taken into their justice building. Caesar Flickerman thanks us for watching then the image on the screen turns to some Capitol woman showing people how to put nail varnish on 'properly'.

Dakota grabs the control and turns the TV off.

"Who did I miss?" she asks.

"They boy from eight volunteered because he thought his life was worthless or something like that. The two from nine were nothing special I don't think, a twelve year old and a fourteen year old. The boy from eleven is eighteen and gigantic and the girl is only twelve. Then from twelve someone volunteered for their little sister and another sixteen year old was reaped. From them ones though the boy from district eleven is the biggest threat," I answer.

Dakota looks quite shocked at the fact there was two volunteers but quickly gets over it and tells me we have to go for our dinner. I hobble down the corridor after her and remember that I still haven't been in my room. I look behind me down the corridor and see a door at the bottom marked 10M which can only be mine. I continue to hobble after Dakota until I come to the large couch room. Now it seems to have been pushed back into the wall and little of it remains. There is a well layed out table in the middle of the room where Georgie, Tredd, Steff and Dakota sit, I sit myself down in between Steff and Dakota across from Tredd.

"So what are you good at," Tredd asks munching away on some food. I'm too busy looking around at the glorious food in front of me to listen to what he said so he has to repeat it.

"Emmm," I say still not concentrating. "Give me a second," I say. I quickly grab hold of all the foods that I fancy and put them on my plate. I place a small round purple food in my mouth and as I bite into it it bursts filling my mouth will a juicy flavour.

"I'm good at hand to hand combat," I say munching away at another food I have never seen before.

"Any weapons?" he asks.

"I've never had the opportunity to try one," I respond.

"You'll have plenty of time in the training centre for that," Tredd and Steff say at the same time. They laugh and carry on eating. I eat as much as I can until I see that everyone else has finished eating and Georgie is looking at me strangely. She points to her chin and does a wiping motion. I wipe my finger across my chin and a little but of gravy touches my finger. I wipe the rest off with the napkin and just relax. After another few minutes Steff and Tredd leave together followed by Dakota and I'm just left with Georgie.

"Have you watched the reapings?" she asks.

"Yeah."

"You'll do fine."

"Fine isn't always winning though is it?" I say in a sudden outburst. "Sorry it's just with my crippled foot I don't think I stand a chance," I say hanging my head in shame.

"Oh has Dakota not told you," she says happily.

I lift my head up. "Told me what."

"Oh I don't want to ruin the surprise," she says running out of the room before I can ask her anymore. I pick myself up and begin to hobble over to the couch when someone taps me on shoulder. An avox. We learnt about them when we were younger so I know they can't talk. I see she is holding a white slip of paper in her hand so I take it. It reads: Follow me, please. I crumple up the piece of paper and follow her. She leads me down several corridors until we come to a room where I hear an old man's voice tell me to lie down on a bed.

I lie down and a man wearing what appears to be a doctors uniform stands over me.

"Okay I'm going to place this needle in your arm and I want you to count down from 10 then you'll be fast asleep, okay?" he says in a very gentle manner.

"Wait, what? Who are you? What are you doing?" I say all at once.

"I'm a doctor, I'm here to fix your crippled foot. Did no-one tell you?" he says.

"No. How do you know I have a crippled foot?" I ask.

I feel the needle pierce my arm and I begin to count down from 10.

"Dakota, your fellow tribute, is very persuasive. She asked me to," he says. I manage a smile at the fact Dakota did this for me and this must have been where she went when we were watching the reapings. My ally.

**A/N: A long chapter I know but long chapters can be good. Please review.**


	3. Fire over the rest

I wake up to my foot throbbing and the pain is worse than it was before. My hand reaches out to touch it and a sharp nail scratches my skin drawing blood. I pull my hand back quickly and see the face of the doctor staring at me. I take my time to notice that I'm no longer in the same room I was but in a fancy yellow room and the sun glistens in through a small round window. I see my first sight of the Capitol, a sight I could truly never forget. Compared to district 10 this place is luxury. Buildings soar high in the sky and I can hear happiness. A noise you fail to hear in district 10. Then I'm drawn back to my foot throbbing.

"Where abouts am I?" I ask.

"You are where the tributes are staying. All other tributes are getting ready for the parade soon so I am to send you down there as soon as possible," he says smiling.

"Why's my foot throbbing?" I ask.

"After effect."

"And when will it stop."

"Soon."

"How soon?"

"Stop asking so many questions, it will be alright for the games," he says angrily but I'm not finished.

"How about training? Will it be alright for then?"

"Yes it will be alright for training," he says angrily again.

"Ok, thank you for fixing my foot," I say smiling.

"It's not me you need to thank," he says. I know he means Dakota. He stands up and walks over to one of the avoxes standing by the wall. "Will you escort our district 10 male to his stylist, please," he says in a nice tone. He's one of the few people that actually treats avoxes with respect but he still wants them to serve him so really he's just as bad as the rest. The avox walks out the door and I follow her saying one last thank you to the doctor. I follow the avox down three sets of stairs and she takes me into a room where Dakota and Georgie are waiting for me. It isn't until I see Dakota that I realism that I wasn't limping at all, my foot was still throbbing but there was no limp. I run over to Dakota and hold her tight against me, I hear her laugh a little.

"You can run," she says giggling.

"Thank you so much," I say not feeling grateful enough.

"I just felt like I needed to give you a better chance in the arena," she says happy.

"I couldn't have wished for a better ally, could I?" I say looking towards Georgie.

"Oh.. your going to be allies," she says clapping her hands together like a two year old. "Well times ticking away and we need to get you ready for the chariot rides," she says grabbing hold of mine and Dakota's arms. She hurries us into separate rooms not too far away and a tall Capitol woman stands in front of me facing the wall to my side. Georgie closes the door behind her as she walks out and the tall woman turns around. She smiles as she sees me and I attempt a smile back.

"Ok, so we are going to have to work on the smile but I'm glad I've got one of the older tributes, how old are you?" she says in a strong Capitol accent.

"Eighteen," I say. "Nineteen in two weeks," I add on.

"Oh great, your the oldest tribute. I think you have a chance," she says winking at me. I don't. I have no chance what so ever so I don't know what this lady is thinking.

"I haven't even introduced myself," she says in a shocked voice. "I'm your stylist Olive and this is my first year as a stylist," she says proud of herself clearly. "So anyway I have designed an outfit for you that reflects livestock," she says pulling a cowboy hat off the table behind her. I don't have anything against this outfit actually since the last few years district 10 have been dressed as cows. I guess a cowboy outfit will be cool. I smile at Olive in reassurance and she pulls the rest of the outfit out.

"Ok so if you get changed behind that curtain and then..." her voice trails off into a mumble to herself. "Go on then," she says pushing me behind the curtain. I plant myself down on the seat and pull my top off. I pull on a white top that sticks to my body as it goes on and I pull a cream blazer on over the top of it. It has small golden buttons and a yellow outline. I pull the trousers off and replace them with the burgundy cowboy trousers which have shackles weighing me down and white hairs sticking out at random places. I pull on my cowboy boots and stand up, I look at myself in the mirror, the dirty looking boy who hobbled onto the stage this morning is unrecognizable now and I look like a true cowboy. I pull the hat over my head so a shadow covers one of my eyes and now I look the complete part. It's just a shame the only reason I'm dressing like this is so Capitol people can decide whether to bet on my life or not. I push the curtain to the side and Olive starts holding her hand in front of her mouth.

"Amazing," she says examining me from head to toe. She grabs hold of my hand and takes me back into the room where Dakota, Georgie and I were standing about ten minutes ago. Georgie starts clapping her hands again when she sees me and she gives me a hug. A hug that feels like the hugs Dad used to give me. My Dad the murderer. My thoughts are now filled with horrible images of Dad smashing the building down on top of those kids. Evil.

A man walks out of the room that Dakota was pushed into. He is wearing all blue, blue hair, blue earrings, blue eyeliner, blue eye shadow, blue powder. Just everything blue. He must be Dakota's stylist and looking at him makes me notice how normal Olive is for someone from the Capitol. Her hair is dark brown with just a small tint of purple in and she just wears normal make-up and I can't help myself from asking her why.

"You don't look like someone from the Capitol," I say to her.

"Right now you don't look like someone from district 10," she says wittingly. And for some reason I don't want to respond to what she said because she's hiding something and she wants to keep it hidden.

"Are you coming out then Dakota," the blue man sings towards the door he just came out of. Dakota comes out of the room wearing a design very similar to mine but in a female version. She has her hair in pigtails which are hanging down her shoulders, I've never seen it like that before but by the looks of it I don't think she likes the way it is. The blue man pulls her hat down a little bit and she laughs a little.

"What's Dakota's stylist called?" I ask Olive.

"Blue," she says to me.

"Yes, the one in blue," I respond.

"No, he's called Blue. That's his name. He dresses up in all blue to match his name," she says laughing. I look at her with a shocked face and then I hear the clitter clatter of boots and Dakota appears next to me.

"You look great," I say joyfully.

"Thanks same for you," she says.

"CAN ALL TRIBUTES MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE BOTTOM FLOOR," a voice says from a speaker on the wall. Blue starts pushing me and Dakota towards the stairs and they follow after us. Dakota begins to run down the stairs playfully and I decide it is a race. "Three...Two...One," she says eagerly. We race off down the stairs cutting corners and pushing each other against walls. I'm in the lead and It ake a few seconds to look back at her and then I turn back to run straight into the district 3 girl, Kalia I think her name was. She falls to the floor underneath my weight and when I hear her giggling I begin to laugh as well. I feel Dakota's soft hands pull me onto my feet and I pull Kalia up. Kalia is wearing a ridiculous costume and I don't want to comment on it because I don't know what I would say.

"Sorry," I almost whisper feeling childish.

"It's alright," she laughs. Kalia fully stands up and is only about an inch taller than me. There is an awkward silence for a little until Dakota speaks up.

"Can you use any weapons?" Kalia jumps a little as if she didn't even pay attention to the fact Dakota was there.

"I don't know yet, I guess I'll see tomorrow," Kalia says nervously.

"Are you interested in an alliance with me and Barney?" Dakota asks. I see Kalia smirk when she hears my name then she nods her head.

"Can Noah join if he wants to?" she says tapping her foot on the floor. Noah is her district 3 partner. Before Dakota can answer Noah appears out of the door on this floor wearing a just as ridiculous costume as Kalia is wearing.

"I'm sorry Kalia but I want to do this alone," he says holding her shoulder. Kalia nods her head at him and he walks down the stairs without saying another word.

"Well I guess it's just us three then," Kalia says smiling. Her teeth are so bright and she looks like someone who has a shower about four times a day. I like Kalia and one more person to an alliance isn't going to do any harm.

"See you later cowboy," she says still smiling, "and girl," she nods at Dakota. "Sorry I didn't ask for your name, what is it?" she adds on.

"Dakota Hood," Dakota says holding her hand out in front of her. Kalia shakes it willingly then rushes down the stairs calling for Noah.

"How much do you think she wanted to be with Noah?" Dakota asks me.

"She didn't seem to bothered about him not joining. So is that our alliance then?" I ask her.

"Depends, I'd prefer if he had one more though. A boy. Strong. Agile. Can use a weapon," she says ticking through all the objectives this boy will have to have in her head.

"We never managed to finish that race," I say beginning to sprint downstairs. I get to the bottom floor about ten seconds before her and Georgie is waiting tapping her wrist oddly.

"Take your time why don't you?" she says in an overly sarcastic manner. We are quickly rushed into the training centre where twelve golden chariots are lined up. Many tributes have already started to board their chariots and only us and district 6 are yet to get on. We begin to run towards our chariots and I see the careers shaking their heads in disgust. It's mainly the district 1 male though, Marvel. He wears a shiny tunic and a pink cape his eyes trained on us. Any other district boy would get slaughtered for wearing a pink outfit but not district 1. They can do what they want, they'll get sponsors even if they didn't turn up for the chariot rides. Dakota pulls herself up onto the chariots and I follow her up. We sit down whilst waiting for the district 6 tributes to come and I notice that Dakota's face is covered in make-up and she is clean. She smells clean as well.

"How are you so clean?" I ask her.

"Whilst you were in operation are prep teams cleaned us," she answers. I nod my head and have a quick sniff of my armpit. I don't smell too bad but compared to Dakota and probably every other tribute I don't smell too good. I see the district 6 tributes rush into their chariots and the large shutters that surround the training centre open. I hear the roars of the crowd and the district 1 tributes set off. The screaming becomes louder as they are first seen by the crowd and I can Marvel looking just as cocky as he did in the reaping and Glimmer showing off her beauty with a similar outfit to Marvel's. The district 2 chariot sets off next and these two look deadly. They are dressed in gladiator style costumes and Cato flexes his muscles to the crowd. There are more cheers as the two of them throw a part of their costume into the crowd and the horses start running faster to keep up with district 1's chariot. My eyes start to squint to see the two chariots heading further down the street and Kalia and Noah's chariot sets off.

The cheers are nowhere near as loud as they were for the other two districts but they atleast they are still getting cheers. Both tributes are waving their hand which is closer to the crowd but Kalia is looking around nervously. Their costume is weird but it is also just the type of thing the Capitol like. The district 4 and 5 chariots set off next. The district 4 tributes look like sea Gods, both Tara and Ethan have star fished pins attached to their shoulders and pearls entangles in their hair like they have just risen from the sea. Their outfit is quite enchanting but all eyes suddenly turn to district 5. The two of them are dressed in all shine, they wear round plates attached to their heads and their whole costume just shines.

"I feel sorry for them," Dakota says laughing. I simply nod my head and the district 6 chariot sets off, nerves start to tingle in my stomach as my eyes go blotchy and my foot starts to throb. I feel Dakota's arm brush against mine and the ends of all my hairs stick on their ends. I try to ease my worries watching the district 6 tributes. They wear coloured robes and a moon seems to sweep across their face. The outfit looks beautiful to say the least but it has nothing to do with district 6 and the Capitol don't seem impressed. I wouldn't be surprised if their stylists were executed as soon as this parade is finished. The district 7 tributes also look very good and their outfit actually suits their district. They look like elegant paper origami figures and they wear paper fans on their heads, they manage to get quite loud cheers compared to district 6.

"What should we do?" I say as the district 8 chariot pulls away.

"Wave and smile," Dakota shouts over the cheering crowd. The district 9 tribute sets off and are horses make a neighing sound. I'm suddenly distracted my the familiarity of home. Horses. One of the few things that reminds me of district 10. I lean forward and begin to stroke one of the black horses manes. It purrs gently and begins to move. I jerk back and realism that we've set off. Dakota suddenly clutches onto my hand in fright and her eyes have opened widely. Once we are in open view of the Capitol we begin to wave and I manage to smile a little. I look into the crowd and see a few posters with my name on. Barney Tenton. The horses pick up speed pulling me to the side of the chariot and I almost fall out. A horrible feeling rushes through my stomach and I feel the sick come to my throat. I lean forward again to steady myself and I pat one of the horses on the back. The people begin to cheer loudly and I see Dakota looking behind.

"What are you doing?" I ask through gritted teeth.

"They're on fire," she says her mouth wide open. I quickly turn around and district 11 are doing the same because behind them the district 12 tributes are on fire. The Capitol burst into more applause as the two of them lift their hands up together and we stop. The fire goes out and President Snow begins to speak. Most of the crowd are still screaming the name Katniss as he welcomes us to the Capitol. I'm looking at the screen the whole time though, the camera is mostly on district 12 and at one point it goes to us and I smile a little. It quickly goes back to district 12 then flickers through the career districts staying on district 4 for quite a while. The anthem begins to play and we wave once more while we do one last circle of the streets. We disappear into the training centre and the doors shut behind us. For a split second we are in complete darkness then the lights flicker on. Three people I have never seen before rush over to me and start praising me.

"Who are you?" I say trying to sound as nice as possible.

"Oh.. I'm Jilia, this is Beau and that's Oritio," the woman with short orange spiky hair says. "We're your prep team," the one she said was called Beau says in a very high voice. I almost forgot about my prep team and to be honest they aren't very important to me. Georgie walks over to me and pulls me down from the chariot. I look around the other tributes. District 12 are getting heaps of praise and many other tributes are giving them dirty looks. Thresh, the district 11 boy, is talking to the careers and I bet that they will be asking him to join them.

"Great job, it's just a shame district 12 were on fire," Georgie says jokingly but you can tell she feels out-shone. She pulls Dakota down from the chariot and instructs me to follow my prep team and Olive who has miraculously appeared. I bump into Kalia on my way out and I tell her how good she was. I make my way out of the room examining each boy tribute. Which one should we ally with? Well districts 1, 2 and 4 are careers and would never ally with us. Noah has already said that he doesn't want to ally with us. Thresh wouldn't ally with us either as I have already seen him turning down the careers moments ago in the training centre. The boy from 9 is only twelve though so I don't want to ally with him. So that leaves the boys from 5, 6, 7, 8 or 12.

Once we've left the training centre I'm taken to a blinding white room where there are many shelves with products on.

"We're going to clean you up," Oritio says, he has a manly voice which doesn't go well with the Capitol accent. I lie myself down on a small white bed and kick my cowboy boots off.

"Would you like to be awake or asleep while we do this?" Beau asks.

"Asleep," I say quietly closing my eyes. I feel a sharp needle in my arm and I count down from ten. I enter complete darkness for a little while and then I feel nothing.

I wake up in what seems moments later. I breathe in the air through my nose and I feel clean. I lean up and my prep team is no longer with me and I'm completely naked apart from my boxer shorts. I look around for my cowboy outfit but it isn't here anymore so I pull on a white t-shirt on which is resting on the back of a chair and some black trousers and make my way out of the room. I click the button in front of me and wait for the lift to arrive.

"You look like that man," I hear a voice I've heard before say. I turn around to face Noah who looks quite worried.

"What man?"

"The man who arrived in our district yesterday."

"Who is he?"

"He was arrested upon arrival."

"What for?"

"Killing twenty four kids." I feel a horrible, large lump in my throat and a tear slips down my cheek.

"You know him," he says.

"He's my Dad, now get lost," I say pushing him away. I turn around and hope the lift opens.

"I know why he killed them," he says putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Why?" I sniffle.

"When he was arrested he was shouting about how it wasn't his fault," he pauses for a second. "He said that the Capitol would be taking them away anyway or they would have a terrible life. He said he was saving them from a terrible life," Noah finishes. Saving them from a terrible life, he's wrong in the head. What was he thinking? Who cares if it's a terrible life - anything is better than death.

"Where did they take him?" I say as the lift opens.

"The district three peacekeepers are harsh it's more than likely that he's been executed," Noah says clearly not wanting to say the last bit.

"Deservedly so. If he thinks he can kill people then he should die," I say in disgust.

"Don't say that he's your Da..." Noah starts.

"And would you forgive your Dad if he went and killed twenty four kids from your district. You know only one kid survived that was in that barn and that's my district partner. My Dad destined all their deaths from the start," I say now crying. I don't cry fully often but now it feels necessary.

Noah presses the numbers 3 and 10 and the lift begins to move up. He hangs his head in what looks like shame so I feel like I want to change the subject. "Why don't you want to ally with anyone?" I ask.

"I think I'll do better on my own, not that I think that I'll do any good anyway," he says sniffling. I wipe away my last few tears and the lift stops. He begins to walk off the lift and I tug his shoulder, "Noah I'm sorry for shouting. Tell Kalia to come straight to me and Dakota in training," I say. He nods his head and begins to walk off. The doors begins to close and I jam my foot in between the two of them.

"Noah, do you want to train with us?" I ask trying to look hopeful. He smiles and nods his head. I let the doors close in between my feet and the lift shoots up to floor 10.

**A/N: Starting to introduce some new tributes. hope you liked it please review to make me happy.**


	4. All about the alliance

I'm screaming and I know I'm screaming but I can't stop and I feel someone tugging at my arm but my eyes are refusing to open. I scream louder and someone pinches my lips together and I breathe rapidly though my nose. They release their grip on my lips and to my surprise I don't scream but my lungs feel like their exploding.

"Barney," the voice shouts at me. I nod my head at them pushing air out my nose but still not opening my eyes. I feel sharp fingers pry one of my eyes open and Georgie stares back at me. My other eye opens quickly and I sit up just looking at her.

"Barney what's the matter?" she says gripping hold of my hand. I let her hold it even if I don't want her to.

"N.." Do I tell the truth that it was nightmares. Nightmares of me driving the tractor with my Dad killing those kids and then the mayor did have the reason to get me reaped. "Nothing," I finally say. She puts her other hand on top of my other hand.

"Tell me the truth," she whispers and holds her ear towards my mouth like I'm going to tell her a secret. I pull my hands out of her grip and fall onto my back. I hear her shoes hit against the floor.

"Everyone has nightmares you know Barney you just have to be brave enough to talk about them," she says as she leaves the room. She leaves the door open though and I'm forced to stand up to go close it. I see Olive walking through the door of our floor and I can't help but shout for her.

"Why are you here?" I shout.

"I'm your stylist, what do you expect?" she says laughing.

"What... are you going to dress me for training?" I say closing the door so I can get ready. I begin to walk over to the wardrobe when I hear a light knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I say annoyed at the fact I'm going to have to walk all the way back to the door.

"Answer and find out," says a voice that can only be Olive's. I trudge over to the door and pull it open, it smashes against the wall behind me and Olive pulls a shocked face.

"Someone's in a foul mood," she says shaking her head. "So anyway here's your training outfit. Breakfast then training, OK?" she says handing me a black outfit with an occasional red stripe and a white number 10 in various places. I thank her and close the door in a much smoother motion. Deep breaths. The nightmares are changing my attitude and I don't want to be falling out with people it could leave me without an alliance. I quickly get changed and make my way out of the room. Dakota, Tredd, Steff, Olive and Blue are already all sitting round the table. I sit in between Tredd and Blue and take a bowl from the middle of the table. I pour myself some cereal and quickly have something to eat. I finish about the same time as Dakota.

"Okay don't go for what your best at first?" Tredd says.

"I'm not best at anything," I say hanging my head in shame.

"Then just try some stuff out," Tredd says clapping his hands together.

"You too Dakota, no harm in looking bad. Johanna Mason looked bad in training and look what place she came," Steff says. Me and Dakota nod are heads simultaneously and after a short discussion Blue and Olive leave the table.

"It's about time you should be going as well," Georgie says looking at her watch. Everyone stands up and Tredd instructs one of the avoxes to clean up our breakfast. I reach for my bowl but Steff snaps my hand with her fist.

"That's their job," she whispers. I'm forced to walk away out of the room after everybody else and we all get into the lift. It's quite cramped with all of us but for a bit I feel like I'm in a family. The lift journey goes quite quickly and we reach the bottom floor with no interruptions.

"Okay, me and Tredd are going into the mentors meeting and Blue, Olive and Georgie are going into town so if you need anything come and knock on this door here," she says pointing at a pink door to the left of her. We nod are heads silently and make our way into the training room. Most of the tributes are already here and Kalia gives us a shy wave. We stand in a semi circle with the rest of the tributes and wait for the few remaining tributes to get here. District 6 come next - late as always and last to come is district 12. A woman with satiny coloured skin begins to walk over and I have a chance to look about the training centre. There is many stations everywhere, some that tickle my fancy but others that I know I will make a fool of myself if I try it out.

"Hello tributes," I hear a woman's voice say and I quickly turn my head to face her. She motions her head from side to side as she begins to talk about certain rules in the training centre. "As important as weaponry is in the games the survival skills are just as important. I warn you not to ignore these stations because if you then you won't survive in the games. On the other hand the weaponry stations are where you can try out new skills that you might use in the games but one thing you are not aloud to do is fight other tributes - there will be plenty of time for that in the arena. If you do want to try out your new weapon though dummies are available and you could try out your hand to hand combat with our willing assistants," she pauses for a second to look at the watch on her wrist. "It's ten o'clock now and we will be eating lunch in the dining room at twelve o'clock. Now you can get started."

The tributes from districts 1, 2 and 4 rush over to the weapons station and begin to show off their skills. The twelve year old from district 4 picks up a sword and lodges it right into a dummies chest. The girl from district 7 flinches as he does so. I watch as tributes try out their first weapons and others head over to the survival sections as instructed. Most tributes have separated but there is the three or four groups that will have been told to stay together by their mentors. I don't realize that all I've been doing for the first ten minutes is staring until Kalia taps me on the shoulder.

"Where do you want to start?" she says. Noah stands behind her tapping his foot on the floor.

I quickly look around the room and most weapon stations are occupied by careers. "Camouflage," I finally bring myself to say. "Where's Dakota at?" I ask. Kalia looks around and shrugs her shoulders. We begin to walk over to the camouflage station where a trainer seems quite excited that he gets to explain something to someone. We spend about our first hour watching as he paints delicate patterns on our arms using nature and when we hold up our arms to a hologram of a tree it completely blends in. We all try out painting our other arm to look like the tree and although Kalia's is clearly the best all of our patterns would still easily blend into a tree. The district 12 tributes begin to walk over to the station and we make our way to our first weaponry station. Spears.

Marvel steps aside in disgust and Noah picks up a spear. He moves his hand up and down the spear waiting to throw it and then when he does it clatters off the floor about a metre away from the target. Marvel shakes his head and lodges a spear into the thigh of a dummy without even looking.

"I'm rubbish at this," Noah complains.

"Doesn't matter, just practice," Kalia says trying to encourage him. A door suddenly slams shut and Dakota comes rushing into the room to us.

"Where have you been?" I ask shocked at the many bandages wrapped round her arms.

"Oh I cut myself at the knife station so I had to get it sewn up," she says out of breath. She looks at the station we're and picks up a spear. She holds it with her bandaged arm and throws it at the target. It whistles through the air and just misses the edge of the target.

"It would still kill them wouldn't it," she laughs. Kalia nods assuringly and picks up a spear next. She examines the length of the spear and makes sure she is holding it in the exact right place. Once sure she paces back a few steps and flings the spear towards the target. She crumples up her face as it goes towards the target and it hits right next to Dakota's spear. They give each other a high five and I smile at them as congratulations. Noah looks quite disappointed at his feeble attempt but Kalia begins to reassure him that there will be other weapons that he will be good at.

"Your turn," Dakota beckons to me. I feel a lump go down my throat and I know if I don't do as well as Dakota and Kalia then the careers will think I'm easy competition. I look around and see one set of eyes apart from my allies staring at me. Clove. I give her a sarcastic smile and she winces her eyes even more then they are. I pick up a spear and try to copy off what Kalia did. I measure it in my head and make sure my hand is slightly to the right of the middle. Then I step back three times and extend my arm to it's full length. It's like in P.E when we practices throwing the javelin, I bend my arm and extend it again I feel it brush through my fingers and it flies across the training room towards the target. I catch a glimpse of Clove her eyes following the spear then it hits the board. My eyes go blurry as I try to figure out where it hit the target and I see it hit the second best circle you can hit. I smile in victory and Clove walks over to the knife station which I have already seen she is good at.

My allies smile at me as I turn around and then we make our way to what will be the last station of the morning. We go to the slingshot station as we know we only have about five minutes left and we can't rush an important station. Noah picks up the slingshot first and hits the target straight away with the sharp rock leaving a dint in the surface. He seems quite pleased with himself and Dakota goes to pick it up but the girl from district 11, Rue, appears from nowhere picking it up.

"Sorry were you going to use this?" she sweetly asks. Dakota smiles and shakes her head taking a step back. Rue holds the slingshot up and hits the target exactly where Noah did. She smiles and wakes over to us handing Dakota the slingshot. Dakota thanks her and fails to do any good with the slingshot. She shrugs her shoulders and hands it to me. I ping it and the rock flies past the target hitting the small boy from district 9.

"Sorry," I call but he just stands there rubbing his back. A bell rings out to indicate that it's lunch time and we all head to the dining room. I sit down on a table with Kalia and Dakota but Noah seems to have found a new friend in Rue. He sits on a table with her by themselves. Most tributes are randomly scattered around the dining room and the careers are speaking loudly on the table closest to the training centre. We have to get our own food so we all get it at the same time. I take some bread that is slightly tinted green and put some filling into it. We make our way back to the table in since and the careers mock us as we walk past them. I'm older than all of them and yet somehow they are so much better than me. I'm strong though, I know I am and I'll just have to show that in the individual sessions.

"Have you been looking out for someone else for the alliance?" Dakota asks me as soon as I sit down.

"No," I say shaking my head, "have you?"

She nods her head and begins to explain everyone she has paid attention to, "Well first I was watching the boy from district 5, Chris. He's a reasonable height and although he didn't seem to have a clue when it came to the survival stations he was amazing with a sword and managed to beat an assistant in a fight." He does sound good I have to admit and being from district 5 no-one would expect him to do well. I look around the dining room and see him sitting on the same table as his sly district partner but they are sitting on opposite ends of the table to each other, not communicating.

"On the other hand the district 6 boy, Jason, didn't do much all morning," she starts. "He followed the small district 9 boy, Imanol, around most of the time and whenever he came to try something out he failed miserably at it. The only thing he slightly impressed me at was knives but even there he wasn't a match for Clove and we need someone who can fight the careers."

"So we're ruling him out," Kalia says.

"Not yet he might be playing the Johanna Mason act. Then our other options are Sam from 7, Samuel from 8 and Peeta from 12," Dakota explains.

"And are they any good?" Kalia asks hopefully.

"I haven't been watching them really but Sam is very good with an axe," Dakota says.

Once everybody has finished their lunch it's back to training until four o'clock. Noah doesn't join us this afternoon but instead hangs around with Rue a bit more. I make sure to watch Sam, Samuel and Peeta throughout the afternoon. As Dakota said Sam is very good with an axe and he seems to know his survival skills as well. He goes around the training centre alone but is always eyeing up the other tributes and while he is looking at our alliance we always make sure to be doing something.

When we are lining up at the jungle gym Samuel falls off the rings onto the floor and holds his foot in agony. Glimmer begins to laugh chorusing the rest of the careers too as well and Samuel leaves early to tend to his foot.

"He's faking it, trying to look weak so he won't be the first career target," Dakota says nudging my arm.

"Then why has he went out for the rest of the day?" I ask.

"To make it look real," she answers. I nod my head to show her I understand and the rest of the training goes quite quickly. I try out the insects station, swords, knives and hammock making before Kalia asks us to try out the gauntlet. The gauntlet looks quite scary if I'm being honest. Throughout the day I've seen careers go through it with ease but they've trained their whole lives. The only other tribute who has tried it out was Leigha from district 7 and she only got half way through it. What you have to do is jump on ascending platforms whilst assistants throw and hit you with pads.

"I'll go first," Dakota says nervously. She stands on the platform and a few small beeps count her down then an instructor shouts go. She jumps up the first four in a quick time and then a pad hits her shin she flies over to the next one and just manages to cling onto the edge of the fifth platform. She pulls herself up and jumps to the halfway mark. Assistants begin to beckon her to carry on but she just lies on her back. She climbs down the ladder and sits on the floor waiting for me and Kalia. Is it really that hard?

I step up onto the first platform and hop up the first four easy like Dakota did then I see one of the pads flying towards me and I attempt to duck and jump at the same time I roll over onto the fifth successfully and jump onto the sixth with ease. This is where Dakota gave up, I can't do that I have to show I stand a chance in these games even if I don't. I jump down the first three and over two pads before a pad smacks my ankles and I tumble onto the ledge hanging on by just my fingers. I want to give up now, it's only training but I have to treat it like the games. I don't know how low that drop is but in the games it could be death. I push my had further up and grip onto something I think is stable. I release my grip and then the thing I thought was stable slips and I fall. Fall all the way to the ground and I hear some laughter. My head bangs off the side of the next platform on my way down and Dakota stands over me out of breath.

"Are you alright?" she says. I nod my head and pull myself up without her assistance. I sit down on a rack that once had food on and watch Kalia as she attempts the gauntlet. She seems to be going smoothly at first then it all goes wrong and she falls after being hit in the arm with a pad which knocks her off balance. She hits the ground face first and her lip splits open, blood spews everywhere and Noah quickly rushes over while all other tributes watch in a state of shock. The careers laugh though, laugh at her pain and it's not right. My head starts to go dizzy and running over to Kalia is going to do me any good but I see Dakota run over still out of breath.

A long beep signals the end of training today and most of the tributes can't get out of the room fast enough apart from the careers who are basically begging the assistants to stay longer and the few of us who are with Kalia. After the careers are forced to leave Kalia is escorted out by her mentor, a woman who won the Hunger Games not too long ago called Wiress. The rest of us walk out the room muttering to each other about if Kalia will be alright. I overhear Noah and Rue talking about which stations they will go tomorrow and Dakota tells me to go get Tredd and Steff from the mentoring room.

I walk into the room and the lights are still on but everything is completely silent. I turn the light off when I hear a TV going away in the corner of the room. I jog over to the TV quickly and I'm about to click the power button when I see the headline on TV. Jekell Tenton executed for the murder of 24 children. So my dad's been executed. I turn the TV off before the picture of him comes on. I don't know how to feel, he's dead. A part of me feels good riddance that no-one who kills twenty four kids should stay alive but another part of me is angry with the Capitol because they've condemned my Dad to death for something they do every year send twenty-three kids off to their deaths. My Dad has killed one more than them and he has been executed so really they should be executed. Or are they just angry because it's there job to kill those kids lives? Just angry because my Dad did the job for them? They're sick and so is my Dad.

"SICK!" I scream at the Tv. I kick the screen and my foot goes straight through it. There's a small explosion and it falls onto the floor.

"Barney what's the matter?" Dakota runs in the room.

"My Dad... and the Capitol they're sick," I shout holding my head in my hands.

"I ...," Dakota stutters. I can tell she was going to say I know but she doesn't want to hurt my feelings.

"You can say that you know. I hate my Dad and he's dead," I say much quieter now. Dakota doesn't say another word but clings onto my wrist taking me out the room.

"Forget about him, we're going to get back to district 10," she says.

"We?" I question, "Only one of us can get out Dakota you know that just as well as I do," I add.

"Not if we can escape Barney. Me, you, Kalia and our fourth ally. We'll get out and overthrow the Capitol."

**A/N: a big shocker at the end there which a lot is going to evolve from. Continue to read to find out more and please please please review.**


	5. Her Story

"Overthrow the Capitol?" I ask dumbfounded. "Who do you think we are? Do you honestly think four kids can just take over a country?" I ask shaking my head. "No," I answer before she has time to speak.

"Barney, you don't understand," she shouts at me as I begin to walk away. I stop dead in my tracks and listen carefully to what I'm sure is scared breathing. Her breath rasps loudly, echoing throughout the room. I feel her rough skin press gently against my wrist and she drags me around so I face her.

"I'm not stupid Barney," she says in a serious manner. "You aren't either," she says quietly, "and neither is Kalia," she adds on quickly.

"What does intelligence have to do with anything?" I question. A cut in my foot from where I kicked the TV throbs and I try to hide the pain. Not just the pain of the cut but of my Dad because for the first time since his death a tear trickles down my face. I notice that Dakota has turned away - probably on purpose so I can wipe the tear away. I swipe it away with my little finger and watch as it splashes silently against the floor.

Dakota turns around and lets go of my wrist after realizing she is still holding it.

"Intelligence can be everything if you use it correctly," Dakota says looking me in the eye almost as if she is waiting for an answer to the question she didn't give. "I need the cleverest people to come out with me and then we can overthrow the Capitol," she says gripping back onto my wrist.

I know where she's getting at but I have so many questions that I can't remember them all, "Why only four of us, when there is 24 tributes?" I bring myself to ask.

"I can only save four of us. Any more and the portal closes down," she says.

"What portal?" I shout at her and I think she realizes that she hasn't told me how she plans on getting out.

"All I need is an axe and some sponsors," Dakota says smiling. "Steff and Tredd have been trying to look for sponsors for us and when they get enough sponsor money in the arena they will send me a special type of liquid. I'll have to spread the liquid over the metal on the axe, the axe will react with the liquid and then I have to cut it through the void around the arena. It will break apart easily," she says in a way like what she said was perfectly normal. It's anything but perfectly normal.

She sees the confusion on my face and carries on, "Us apprentices have been working on the idea for years, we knew that one of us would get reaped at some point and it just happens I'm the only one left and I've been reaped," she says in a happy voice obviously trying to not mention the word death.

"And why can only four get through?" I ask still curious but now amazed by the whole circumstance. I could get out of the arena.

"The portal only gives enough air for four humans to go through any more and it would shut down half in between the fifth person," she says pulling her collar, "and we don't want that," she adds on laughing a little bit. I stare at her a little longer before finally grabbing her shoulders and dragging her closer to my body. She wraps her arms around me and laughs properly now.

"Your a genius," I finally say. I hear a short chuckle and then the elevator opens up. The girl from district 6 walks out clearly having heard our whole conversation, I quickly push Dakota out of the hug and the district 6 girl claps her hand together sarcastically.

"Bravo," she says stopping her hands mid-clap. Dakota's eyes open wide and then she squints them shut to look at the girl evilly. Before I know it the girl snaps into action and has Dakota held up to the wall by her neck. I react quite slow and drag the girl onto the floor so I have her ribs underneath my knees. I'm quite surprised by my strength but this isn't the time to start congratulating myself.

"Get off me you crippled shit," the girl, who I now remember being called Kara says. I hold my knee down firmer and she starts to mumble something to herself.

"I'm not crippled anymore," I say before continuing. She pulls a weird face that I can't describe so I carry on, "why did you attack her?"

"Let me into the alliance," Kara squeaks, ignoring my question. I hear Dakota smirk and she picks the girl up from underneath my knee, pushing her to the side of the hallway.

"Why should we let you in?" Dakota says eyeing her from head to toe. "We wanted a boy, not you. How much of our conversation were you listening to?"

"All of it, now if you don't let me in then I'll tell the gamemakers," she pauses for effect, "and Snow." Dakota begins to shake her head then brings herself to clap.

"Well played," Dakota says. "Your sneaky, and could be useful," she adds on. Dakota sticks her hand out in front of her and Kara shakes it without hesitation.

"Join us in training tomorrow," I say realizing I haven't said much to the girl. "We might ask another person to join the alliance though," Dakota adds on. "Odds are one of us will die at the bloodbath." Kara nods her head and smiles.

"You have to stay with us though, when we escape. No running away, you have to be there when we go back to the Capitol," Dakota says sternly.

"Believe me, I want to overthrow the Capitol just as much as you do," Kara says and in her voice you can hear the anger at the Capitol. I want to blurt out and ask why she hates the Capitol so much but I know it'll just be the same reason as everyone else. Dakota nods her head in confirmation of what Kara said and makes her way to the lift without saying a word to me. I keep my eyes locked on Kara as Dakota steps into the lift and the doors shut behind her.

The sound of the elevator heading upwards makes my stomach twist and turn rapidly and suddenly without any warning the contents of my dinner are thrown up onto the floor in front of me. I fall onto my knees and my hands splatter messily into the substance in front of me. I look to Kara confused, her legs shake mildly at the sight of the sick and I can already see her face turning a pale colour.

"If you feel ill at a bit of sick then I don't want to know what your going to be like with blood in the arena," I say quietly some sick dribbling down my chin. Her knees suddenly stop shaking and she hides her face from me. I kneel down for what seems to be another ten minutes before I decide to stand up, Kara leans against the wall picking away at her nails. Now her face has turned back to a tanned colour and when she sees me sitting up she smiles half-heartedly.

"You wanna' go to first aid?" she says sighing.

"You don't have to act nice you know," I say now confused at what this girl's personality is. She's went from blackmailing us to fighting us to joining our alliance but I can't help but think this girl joining our alliance is a good idea.

"I can be nice," she spits at me in a defensive manner.

"Then why blackmail us?" I ask in a voice that sounds a little too suspicious.

"I don't know, it's just these games make you do things you would never do," she says sheepishly, "I'm not that type of person but I need to get out of this arena and I need to get my own back on the Capitol."

"You and everyone else," I say sighing.

"No I ... I ... I have more of a reason to get my own back than others," she stutters. I don't know how to respond so I just let her carry on. "My Mam's a victor. She won easily because the arena was poisonous water, each tribute had a boat and being from district 6 she knew how to drive one. Most of the other tributes didn't, some fell out into the water while trying to fix or drive the boat while others starved to death after never reaching the cornucopia. My Mam managed to drive to the Cornucopia - the only other person who managed to was her district partner. She allied with him until he accidentally fell into the water and died, my Mam didn't kill a soul in that arena. When it got down to the last two the other tribute died from a mutation shark attack and my Mam was pronounced victor. Victor. A title she was never proud of. But still...," Kara pauses for the first time and coughs a little. "But still they had to punish her. She was one of the more popular victors and was forced to entertain the Capitol with... se...se...x. The Capitol made her sell herself or else me and my fellow siblings would be killed. She became depressed and like most victors from district 6 she turned into a morphling addict. She's never been the same."

I stand shocked by the whole story and I don't know what to say to Kara. Instead I find myself gripping onto her and soon the warmth of her body is pressed up against mine. She lets go and walks towards the elevator stepping into it as soon as it opens.

"I recommend the boy from district 5, Chris," she says winking at me,"you know for the other person in the alliance," she says nodding.

"But we've already got four people," I say nodding my head towards her.

"Like Dakota said odds are one of us will die at the bloodbath," she says just as the elevator door closes. They're right, odds are one of us will. Who would die at the bloodbath though? Surely not Kalia she wouldn't be stupid enough to go in but someone has to get the axe. Suddenly I once again feel my stomach twisting and vile finds its way out of my mouth for a second time. I find myself only seeing part of what I should and before I know it my head hits off the floor and everything turns black.

**A/N: I know it's on the short side but it's just a way of introducing Kara. Do you like her? Remember to review.**


	6. Not everything's bad

"Swine flu," I hear a voice say as my eyes open. My heart begins to beat faster and faster until I hear the next words, "with a few Capitol tablets you'll be better in no time." The intense beating slows down leaving my back to prickle in awkward places. I can't help but wonder how I got swine flu though, it must be off district 10. The rotten pigs - contaminating something that had to do with me. I zone out for a while wondering why it's only now that I've started to feel sick, if I've got swine flu that means their might be a epidemic. No... The Capitol wouldn't allow that, their stocks of livestock would go down rapidly. I wouldn't be surprised if right now they are sending tablets for everyone in the district. My tablet is soon placed onto my tongue by a young Capitol woman with white gloves on and a tall man brings me a drink to wash it down with. It brings a strange sensation as it floats down my neck into my stomach and I give the people who I'm now sure are doctors a large smile. They pull a weird face at me so I stop smiling and rest my head down on the pillow behind me.

"How long have I been here?" I ask the tall man.

"Quite a while, it's about one pm now," he says looking to the other people in the room. They nod their heads to assure him that he's right.

"What... Does that mean I'm missing training?" I ask quite annoyed.

"Yes," the tall man says holding me down against the hospital bed I'm on, "but we think you should stay here for another five hours at the least," he adds on and all the other doctors murmur something similar to what he said. I hold my head down as if I'm going to go back to sleep and when he least expects it I quickly bite at his skin. I hear a short yelp and take my chance. I could get in trouble for this, but I need to get to training. I need to find out what Kara is good at. I need to ask Chris into the alliance. I jump off the bed without another thought and push my way past another few doctors before making my way out of the door. My heart now beats fast again and I run round several corners trying to find myself a way out of what seems to be an endless maze. Corner after corner I go through more doors until I come to a dead end and the frightening sound of footsteps hits my eardrums. I begin to scale the short pipe on the side of the wall and smash open the vent on the ceiling. Dragging myself in I puke into the left side of the pipe I have now found myself in automatically meaning I have to travel right. Although my throat still feels like a spider has just wripped out my windpipe I have quite a steady journey until the pipe snaps and I find myself in a bright purple room.

The smell of freshness enters my nose and finds its way around my body instantly making me feel a little better. I pick myself up off the floor and that's when I see it. I see the wooden box. The type of box dead bodies go into. My head begins to go dizzy and it can only be the symptoms of the flu, my feet trip over each other leaving my arms to flail about for something to grab. I quickly clutch onto a stack of papers, knocking them onto the floor in the process. My head remains dizzy and my eyesight blurred as I pick up the papers but the first few words on the first page catches my eye. It reads Jekell Tenton. My father. And it suddenly dawns on me what body is in the box.

I'm out of the room, still with the papers in my hand, before I can think about the dreadful situation any longer. All thoughts about needing to get to the training centre have vanished at the realization that my dad's dead body is in the same building as me. I collapse to the floor and tears threaten to come out of my eyes. I'm strong though. I'm strong. I stop the tears from coming but that doesn't stop the man running down the hallway from coming after me.

I push the papers behind my back and the tall Capitol doctor just shakes his head at me.

"If you wanted to go to training so badly we would have let you," he says continuing to shake his head, "there was no need to bite me was there?" he says holding out his hand which has a large bite mark on. I shake my head in agreement.

"Now go on off to training. If you can run that fast away from me then you'll be alright," he says picking me up onto my feet. I manage to keep the papers held firmly behind my back and it's quite clear he doesn't know I've been into my dad's room.

"Will I be alright then?" I ask suddenly thinking of the swine flu again. He nods his head and gives me a reassuring smile and a hand-shake.

"You've been through a lot," he says gripping onto my hand tighter, "it would be nice to see someone from 10 win this year," he adds on letting go. Well hopefully it won't be coming out as victor but as escapee. I'd get in so much trouble. Would we be able to escape though? Me, Kalia, Dakota, Kara and Chris. Can we get out of this arena? What if there's soldiers guarding the arena? Has Dakota even thought this through properly? She must have, she said that Tredd and Steff had helped her. Just as I think about this I feel a rough hand touch my shoulder and I turn around to see Tredd smiling.

"Swine flu, eh?" he says laughing. "Ah, you weren't the only one Barney, about a sixth of district 10 had it but the Capitol has sent them all medication," he says smiling just a little. I knew the Capitol wouldn't let so many people die. What if anyone did die though?

"Did anyone die?" I ask a little too desperately.

Tredd hesitates before he speaks, "There was five children aged thirteen to sixteen but that was it, it seems that them five have had it for quite a while." I bow my head as a sign of a respect and the two of us are silent before the speaker above us interrupts.

"VISITING TIME IS NOW OVER" it repeats a few times before stopping.

"Thank you," I say to the doctor as Tredd begins to take me down the corridor. As soon as we are out of sight he snatches the papers out of my hands and looks at me happily but in disbelief.

"How did you manage to get these?" he says flicking through the papers.

"I found my father's...," I can't finish my sentence because a small tear trickles down my cheek and Tredd realizes what I'm trying to say.

"Do you know what these are?" he says curious. I shrug my shoulders and he carries on, "these are your dad's death records. This will tell us how the Capitol drugged him," he says still flicking through the papers.

"What?" I say not understanding what he is talking about at all. Drugged? Why would the Capitol drug him?

"Your Dad was a major part in the rebellion in district 10. He didn't voluntarily kill those kids, so whatever you do don't hate him. The Capitol found out he was a rebel after they overheard a conversation he had on the phone with a rebel from district 8. He was discussing the possibility of getting to district 13. And yes before you say anything district 13 has inhabitants. The rebels," Tredd tells me all at once. It's so much to take in but for some reason I believe every word he says. Dad was always going on about how much he hated the Capitol for the games.

"After they found out he was a rebel they used a drug on him on his way to his apprentice class," he stops for a bit and begins to read vividly at a passage on one of the papers. "It was an anger drug which made the user want to kill but as soon as the user has killed they will not understand why," he says clearly having just got the answers from the papers. "He killed the poor kids, apart from Dakota and made his way out of district 10 before the Capitol could find him. The whole time he kept in communication with me, after being caught in district 3 the Capitol arrested and killed him for his crimes that he didn't commit. The Capitol needed a way to kill him and so to punish him even more they reaped you. You weren't reaped because they thought you killed those people, you were reaped because of your Father. The least you can do is carry on his wishes," he stops looking at me pleadingly. And I regret so much, I regret hating my Dad and not knowing that he was a rebel and saying that he was sick and smashing the TV and telling people my story because I didn't tell them the full truth.

"Tell Dakota the truth, please," I say. "I don't want her thinking about my Dad in such a bad way." He nods and we begin to walk down the stairs to the bottom floor.

"So did you manage to get anyone else into your alliance, Steff asked Dakota but didn't tell me," he asks.

"Yeah, the girl from 3 - Kalia. We're going to ask the boy from 5 and the girl from 6," I say.

"But that's five, only four of you can get through that portal," he says.

"We think at least one of us will die at the bloodbath, we need to have a back-up."

"And who's going to go in for the axe?" he asks.

"I think Dakota is but I don't know for sure."

"Okay, well go on into training you've got about three hours remaining," says nodding towards the door.

I quickly run towards the training centre and I notice that I've still got my hospital clothes on. With a quick change up in my room I make my way into the training centre and have a quick look around. Kara, Chris (so they must have asked him), Dakota, Kalia and a boy that can only be Thresh from district 11 stand at the weight station. I run other not paying attention to any of the other tributes and sit down on one of the unoccupied weights benches.

"Ah look who's finally turned up," I hear Dakota's now familiar voice say. After my recent finding out about my dad's rebellious side I want to tell her everything but I'll let Tredd later as I asked him to. Thresh grunts something inaudible but Chris seems to understand. Chris slips down onto the bench next to me and Thresh goes on the one next to him.

"3...2...1.., go" one of the girl's shout and the two of them start to push the weights bar up and down keeping at the same pace. It's the first time I've seen Chris train and I'm quite impressed. About ten minutes later after his pace slowly decreasing the weight bar clamps down on Chris's chest and Thresh props his bar onto the ledge. Thresh shakes Chris' hand and makes his way onto the next station. I see Kalia telling Chris that beating

Thresh won't happen in a weights competition and Kara drags me to one side.

"Glad you're ok," she says, "anyways, Dakota has told Chris all about the rebellion idea and he's agreed to join the alliance," she adds on.

"Great, so I was thinking that one of us has to run for the axe and I think that would be best decided through a race. Whoever is fastest has to go for the axe," I say and Kara nods her head. After explaining the rules and what-not to the other three and letting Chris have a small break we all line up so we are behind one of the benches and we decide to race to spear station which is unoccupied. Someone mumbles the numbers three, two, one and we sprint off. Me, Chris and Kalia make our way out in front of Kara and Dakota and after looking back I notice that Dakota really isn't very fast. After another few seconds Chris is lagging a bit behind the two of us and I can hear Kalia panting like a dog. I pick up my pace when there is about twenty metres to go and leap for the finishing line only to see Kalia cross it before me. I lie on the floor defeated but begin to think of the positives of not having to go into the direct bloodbath to get the axe. I shake hands with Kalia and after a short drinks break we make our way to the sword station which Chris apparently is amazing at.

After a minute of examining the swords Kalia steps forward and slices the head of a dummy off with ease. She shrieks a little bit and puts the sword down on the floor.

"What's the matter?" I ask.

"It's nothing, just my cousin died in the games after having his head chopped off, I could never kill someone that way," she says looking a little frightened. I nod my head and take her to one side for a drink while Chris shows off his skills which now have watched myself are pretty amazing.

"So are you alright now then?" Kalia asks while gulping down some water.

"Yeah, just had a tablet."

"And your foot is that completely better now?" I hadn't even thought about my foot that was hurting so bad that day. I must have looked like such a fool to all the other tributes when I was walking up onto that stage. They must have thought I was crippled for life. Maybe I would have been if it wasn't for Dakota. Dakota who has done so much for me but never asks for anything in return.

"Yeah my foot is alright, are you okay running for the axe?" I ask.

"Someone has to run," she says, "I just hope I won't die," she sighs.

"You won't," I almost shout at her but manage to keep my voice down because of all the people around me. After trying out my hand at the sword I realizes it is probably not my weapon and we all move onto the axe station. Dakota is the person who mainly practices with it until the careers come over and fend us off with a few evil eyes. As I begin to walk away Clove purposely bashes her shoulder off my arm and gives a unbothered sorry to me.

"What's your problem?" I say to her but she completely ignores me. Throughout the next hour or so I see her staring at me a few times and after checking out some more stations the bell rings to tell us we can leave now. Once again some of the careers beg to stay to train some more but are turned away by the slightly annoyed supervisors who had to endure this yesterday as well. About fourteen of us croud into the elevator which makes about eight stops before getting to out floor where only me, Dakota and Rue remain in the elevator.

"You ok Rue?" I say, she has pushed herself into the corner as much as she can. she releases herself a little when she hears my voice and nods her head. It makes me feel sick that this little girl will die in a matter of days. The elevator stops and me and Dakota get off. I walk into the room where everyone is having tea. I sit down on a chair in between Tredd and Blue. Blue pats me on the back.

"Glad you're feeling better, Barns," he says cheerfully. Barns? Really? I've never heard that one before. I give him a quiet thanks and Tredd gives me a curt nod. Tea goes by quite quickly with really only Georgie talking about her amazing day shopping with the district 11 and 12 escorts. Steff takes Dakota to one side and doesn't take me long to realizes that she is telling her the truth about my Dad, Tredd must have asked her to for me. I'm greeted with a hug when she comes back and it isn't long before we are sent off to bed.

The warmth of the bed puts me to sleep soon enough and I have no nightmares. Just dreams about getting out of that arena. Tomorrow is a knew day with new challenges I just need to take them on one at a time.

Maybe my life isn't that bad. Maybe I'll live happy. Just maybe.

**A/N: Well I hope you liked it, now please review! Tell me your thoughts!**


	7. Findings can be shocking

The next morning I wake up with Tredd's rough hands shaking my shoulders. I manage to groan something to him and he stops shaking my shoulders.

"Must have been an after-affect of the drugs, you've been asleep for too long," he says. What? Stupid drugs.

"Why what time is it?" I groan again.

"Just past midday, you've missed the training period you could have had with me earlier but you have your training sessions with the gamemakers in two hours. Now what are you planning on doing?" he asks pulling me up so I'm facing him. I finally open my eyes and his face seems a complete blur to me.

"That's shocking," I groggily moan and pull my body away from his grasp. I lean back and hit my head off the pillow, it's warmth tries to invite me back to sleep but I resist by quickly sitting back up.

"I don't care if it's shocking, you were the one who went and got swine flu, now what are you going to do for training?" he asks more frustrated this time.

"I dunno, I'll figure something out," I say pulling myself out of bed. "I'm decent with a spear."

"Okay... That's good. I'll let you get ready then we'll talk some more," he says optimistically. As soon as he has left the room I quickly get changed into a blue top hanging in my wardrobe and some ragged trousers that seem to have a permanent smell of washing-up liquid on them. After contemplating if a spear is the right option for me I walk out of my room and meet Tredd who is talking to Blue in the dining room.

"Barns, how are you?" Blue asks as soon as he sees me. Really why does he keep on calling me Barns? I don't not like it but it is so unfamiliar and it almost seems too Capitol for me. I tell him I'm fine and walk over to the table that they're sitting at. I take a seat and soon enough I'm presented with a bowl of cereal from an avox. I gulp it down quickly much to Georgie's disgust who I have just realized is sitting on the couch.

"Where's Steff, Dakota and Olive?" I ask after realizing their absence.

"Steff and Dakota should be here soon, they're just doing some training," Blue says and pulls a weird face, "I don't know where Olive is actually her absence has been quite regular." He stands up and looks around the corridor corner as if he expected her to be standing there. He turns back to me and simply shrugs his shoulders before sitting back down.

"Okay so while Dakota is not here I'll work with you," Georgie says ironing her hands against her long red dress until it is almost completely clinging to her thighs. What is she talking about? She's an escort, what work could she possible do with me. She begins to walk over, pulling a hair clip out of her pocket like she means business and I almost can't contain myself from laughing so a small smile appears across my face. In a flash she clips it into her hair and rubs her hands together eagerly. I still don't know what she means by 'work with me' until she mentions the word interview.

"Is that tonight?" I gasp.

"Yes Barns," she says. To be honest Barns is starting to grow on me a little, and it seems to be growing on everyone else as well so I may as well go along with it. "We need to work on posture, manners, walking and most importantly your angle," she says pushing her chest out. I nod my head to show her I understand. As much as I know I'm going to hate the next however many minutes it takes until I learn all this, I also know it is going to help. To get the liquid to put on the axe, we need sponsors and the only way I'm going to be able to get sponsors is by impressing the capitolites watching the interviews.

So my torture begins...

After learning how to stand properly and walk at the same time, being able to say sentences using correct manners and deciding that my angle will be 'the district 10 boy who will shock you', I'm told that I can go to my room to get ready for the private sessions. Dakota got in not too long ago so she happens to be walking out of her room as I'm walking in.

"Have you had a good day?" she jokes with me.

"Yeah, it's been great," I say to her sarcastically.

"So what you doing at the private session?" she asks.

"Spears," I answer. She nods and before I can ask her what she is doing I'm rushed into my room by Georgie who is continuously shouting at me to get ready into my training gear. About five minutes later after having a shower I emerge from my room wearing my black training costume with the number 10 on. We all walk down to the training waiting room together where everyone apart from me and Dakota is asked to leave. With a few "good lucks" we are left in the room with only the careers for company who have obviously came here early to look more competitive. Everyone sits in silence apart from the occasional murmur between Cato and Clove. Clove. It suddenly dawns on me that Clove is staring at me, her eyes squinted together, trying to look threatening and I'm afraid to say that it's working. A few more tributes begin to appear from different districts and it seems like the whole time Clove is staring at me. Why me?

It isn't until Clove stands up that I realize that both district 1 tributes and Cato have already been. She clenches her fist and pounds it with the other at me just before she leaves and I can't stop myself from fearfully gulping down the saliva that has been building in my throat since I saw her looking at me. The buzzer calls for Noah next and he walks out with Kalia wishing him luck. I remember wanting Noah in the alliance but hate to think of it because if we want to get out of the arena Noah will die. But with Noah dieing I know that more lives will be saved. Maybe he could still be the victor, they can still have a victor if we get out, can't they? Or would they be to angry and kill the rest of the tributes remaining in a fit of fury? No, they wouldn't. That would just cause more rebellion, that is if we haven't already created one by escaping. I can't help but think that this is all wishful thinking though. But yet I still think we can get out. It can work. I know it can. My brain tosses the possibilities for a long time to come before it is interrupted by the buzzer which calls Leigha from district 7. How long have I been thinking for? Kalia, Chris and Kara have all been now and I didn't even say good luck. Maybe Dakota did for me and they just realized that I was in a trance. I turn to Dakota to ask her but her eyes are closed over and I'm not too sure if I want to intrude her privacy.

After another ten to twenty minutes of sitting bored I nudge Dakota with my elbow and she opens her eyes much quicker than I thought she would.

"What you thinking of?" I ask in a soft voice so that the other tributes can't here me. I feel the district 8 girl's trousers brush past my arm as she makes her way into the room. Including her it's only three more till me.

"Just my grandma, she's eight nine today," she says gently turning to face me. Her grandma has lived a while for someone in district 10, most women only live until the age of sixty and the few that make it past that are normally filled with horrors of seeing so many people they know go into the hunger games that sometimes their lives don't feel like worth living.

"It's my birthday soon," I say in a gentle voice. The next buzzer goes in an incredibly fast time and I look around to see if anyone has any answers but everyone looks as confused as me.

"She must have messed up," the district 9 girl dares to say as her district counterpart makes his way towards the metal door shaking. After another twenty minutes of awkward silence my name is called in an odd robotic voice and I stand up making sure I don't shake at all. Dakota gives me a reassuring wink and the only other tribute I see look at me is little Rue who gives me a small smile. A small smile I give back without hesitation and I make my way through the metal door. It clatters noisily behind me as I make my way in and I look up to the gamemakers who mutter to each other something. The food on their table has completely ran out and they look like they all want to commit suicide. I know a bit drastic but if you could see their faces you would think so as well.

"Barney Tenton," I say loudly as I look for the spears. After finally catching them in the corner of my eye I stride over to make myself look as confident as possible. I pick one up and drag a dummy into the opening. After a few steps back I launch the spear and lodges itself where a human's rib cage would be, not where I was aiming for at all seeing as the head of the dummy is a good half a metre above there but I smile anyway. I hear a few short claps so I pick another one up and lodge it into the dummy's thigh. A small puff of air escapes from the dummy and it gradually begins to sink down to the floor until it's nothing. I never saw any of the dummies when I was training do that. I can't have gotten that strong in two days. The gamemakers look quite satisfied by my efforts so I thank them and make my way out of the room. I smile at myself as I walk out and just as I'm about to make my way into the elevator I hear hushed voices that are both reasonably familiar.

Before I can stop myself I'm sneaking around the outside of the room to the clear glass door. The window is slightly ajar and after examining it closely with my ear I realize that is where I am hearing the voices. I let my eye pear round the corner and I see Olive. My stylist. And someone else that I know but not well enough to identify. I examine the man who's voice is so familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it. I watch the two of them as they exchange words that are so hushed that you'd think they're trying to keep something a secret. Maybe they are? Olive hasn't been entirely truthful with me at all, she doesn't even look like someone from the Capitol. More like someone from a district. That's when I see it though - the pack of tablets that are handed over to Olive from the man who I recognize so well when he has the tablets. The doctor. The tall man who helped me that morning and said in such a confident way that he thought I could win. And I can see the label on those tablets that were washed down my throat and I want answers now.

I scramble my way out of the large window and Olive quickly holds the tablets behind her back, the doctor tries to look as innocent as he can.

"You," I say grabbing him by his shirt, "these tablets you gave me, they're steroids. I might be from district 10 but I can still read a label," I suddenly grab the steroid tablets from behind Olive's back and hold them up to his face so that the label pressing against his nose.

"We're just trying to help you," he says releasing his arm.

"What by cheating? I just did my training session, I was wondering why I could spear the dummy to a pulp, which I couldn't do two days ago," I shout at him.

"Barney," Olive says pulling me to face her, "he's just trying to help."

"Why? He's a doctor. Did I even have swine flu?" I yell at both of them after thinking through the tablets situation.

"Yes of course you did, just Olive told me who you were and we had to help you more," the doctor says.

"What do you mean 'who I am', you don't know me," I shout a little quieter.

"No he doesn't," Steff says suddenly not speaking in a Capitol accent anymore but a familiar district 10 one, "but I do Barney, I'm here to help. We are part of this rebellion as much as you are. I'll help you get sponsors for the liquid."

"How do you even know about that?" I ask.

"Barney, I'm your godmother. I know all about the rebellion and your plan on getting out. Taking these steroids is just giving you a better chance if you come across someone in the bloodbath," Olive says. Godmother? How? But she is speaking in a district 10 accent, and she's trying to help me. How does she know about the rebellion? She's clearly from district 10 which means she must be my Godmother. She's in on this with my mentors.

"I believe you," I choke out.

**A/N: A little short but if you want reasonably fast updates the chapters will be a little shorter and also I really wanted to leave the chapter at this point. I hope you are keeping along with all this and it all makes sense, just ask me if it doesn't. By the way I am always open to requests and ideas by you. Also if you are looking for some stories to read I have got some really great ones on my favourite stories, just have a look. And finally please review.**


	8. Shy at the interview

District 1 - 9 seem to fly by as all of the tributes try to pull off a different angle to the tribute before them. The pair from district 1 are the ones who have impressed the capitolites most so far; the girl, being probably the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, walked onto the stage and was greeted with an applause that lasted throughout her whole interview. She tried to act flustered by the questions but at the same time she was answering them fiercely like a career would. The boy, Marvel, was extremely cocky. Although me and most of the other tributes were shaking our heads in disgust the capitolites loved it and many made banners with his name on.

District 2 was up next and Clove and Cato simply showed that they are careers through and through. Clove talked (evilly) about how she isn't afraid to kill and her only objective is to win. The Capitol loved her as they know they will get some entertainment. Cato was very similar in his interview and it seems that their mentor told them to do the exact same thing. At the end of the interview he got the audience up onto their feet and they all cheered "DISTRICT 2" as he walked off the stage. Up next was Kalia and she knew she had a lot to live up to. The Capitol surprisingly had a lot of sympathy for her so whenever she answered a question they would "aaah." I can't say I wasn't happy with the response but it made me realize even more that everyone in our alliance has to pull it off or we won't get sponsors.

No sponsors, no liquid. No liquid, no escaping. No escaping, certain death for at least four of us.

Kalia's interview finished quite quick and Noah's started soon after. Noah tried to play the innocent angle and although he won over some of the capitolites others just disregarded him as a bloodbath tribute. Noah's interview finished and he received the smallest applause out of all the tributes that had been on. The girl from four came on next and told everyone her intentions of joining the career pack, she was quite a quick talker so Caesar managed to fit in quite a few questions before the bell rang and she received an enormous applause. Her 12 year old counterpart came on next and I couldn't count how many times he said that just because he is 12 it doesn't mean he doesn't have a chance in the games. The capitolites thought he had great enthusiasm and was greeted with a decent applause as he slowly jogged off the stage.

After that the capitolites didn't seem too impressed by the tributes but they were quite intrigued by the sly and elusive girl from district 5. Chris didn't seem to impress the capitolites and as he replied to most of Caesar's questions with one word answers quite a few of the capitolites took this opportunity to go for a toilet or food break. I felt quite sad for Chris because I know he was confident for the interviews but it seems that his district partner outshone him. Kara got a few claps every now and again with some funny answers but I'm guessing the capitolites weren't too bothered to see her leave the stage. Her district counterpart was very shy but tried to sound confident at the same time (a terrible mixture), the capitolites stared at him like he was from a different planet and when he left the stage he got the worst response so far. It seemed like the careers were the favourites, as always.

The district 7 tributes were nothing special but the boy was very funny and was cracking jokes constantly with Caesar, although it looked like he doesn't have a shot in the games he is very popular with the Capitol. The district 8 girl, Mackenzie, was surprisingly popular with the capitolites who loved her dress, she had dressed in typical Capitol wear which was really clever of her stylist to think of. She left the stage with quite a few cheers and Samuel came on after her. He was wearing similar clothes to her so he also got quite a few cheers. The district 9 tributes were quite boring from my perspective so I decided to go to the toilet and freshen myself up for my interview.

By the time I get back I see Dakota mounting the stage with her high heels as she struggles to make her way over to Caesar.

"Well, make sure you don't trip Dakota," Caesar says grabbing her arm gently and guiding her to her seat. The capitolites burst into fits of laughter at this like it was the funniest joke they've ever heard but at least it's good for Dakota. Dakota simply smiles at Caesar and the rest of the interview seems to go quite well. The capitolites seem to warm to Dakota's confident attitude and I even hear some moans when the buzzer rings.

Then I have a funny feeling in my stomach that seems to sting and I realize that it is the feeling of being nervous. I'm next.

As Dakota walks past me I don't even take a glance at her at the realization I will be walking in front of that crowd next. When I realize that she is slowly tapping me on the shoulder repeatedly I lift my head and she gives a quiet but confident "good luck". I nod my head and mouth the words thank you to her before I hear the catchy theme tune come back on.

Before I know a rough handed peacekeeper pushes me onto the stage and I make my way over to Caesar trying to keep my head low. I refuse to let these people make a spectacle out of me.

"Barney Tenton everybody," Caesar says raising his hands so everybody applauds more. I wave a little bit but still keep my eyes down low.

"So Barney, are you missing district 10?" Caesar asks gently. I tug at my blue-grey suit before answering.

"A bit. When your in the Capitol..." I trail off and I can almost feel the capitolites shaking their heads at me, "it's very different," I manage to say in a shy voice.

"Yes it is, have you settled in well then?"

I simply nod my head at him and I realize I mustn't look very appealing.

"Has training been okay?"

"Yeah, I've learnt some new stuff and found some weapons I can use in the arena."

"Well that's good, any allies yet?" I realize that because of my short and not very detailed answers Caesar is having difficulty trying to get the conversation to flow nicely.

"Yeah, I've got quite a few."

"Care to share?" The audience laugh at his stupid rhyming joke and I smile so the Capitol might like me that little bit better.

"You'll have to wait and see, won't you?" The audience gives me a large cheer and I relax into my seat a bit more. My back now curves nicely into the specially designed seat instead of being stiff as a board.

"Do you think you will all survive the bloodbath?"

In my head I know we need one of us to die in the bloodbath but I can't say that. I can't reveal any plans of a rebellion. "Yes, of course we will, you just wait and see," I say in the most confident voice I can use.

"Very confident," Caesar says smirking kindly, "we like confidence here in the Capitol, do you think your confidence will take you far?"

"Hopefully I can win," I say finally deciding to look at the crowd. Many friendly faces stare back, many banners with the number 10 on and then I see Tredd and I smile a little.

"And do you think you can?"

"All I can do is try my best."

He moves himself forward on the edge of his seat to ask the next question, "but will trying your best be good enough?" This one throws me a bit and I am saved by the bell. It rings out and Caesar stands me up. "We'll

have to wait and see," he shouts to the crowd who erupt into a generous applause. I smile as much as I can and walk off the stage to where Dakota is waiting for me.

"You did great!" she says hugging me tightly.

"Same for you," I say smiling.

I watch the rest of the interviews in a comfy seat and although the Capitol are wooed by the district 12 lovebirds I am unfazed. Dakota says they are fake and what Dakota says is normally true. Throughout the rest of the night Tredd and Steff take us to parties to see sponsors and I am greeted with one sentence the whole time - "You were very shy!"

Was I really that shy? That wasn't my angle.

Will it get me sponsors?

Did people like me?

Later on during the night we make our way home to see the training scores that we had missed earlier on. Tredd and Steff are quite drunk by now and lazily skip though everyone else's scores until it gets to mine. I catch a glimpse that the district 9 girl got a 6 and my face pops up on the screen. A determined face that would fit right in with the career pack. Six. Not bad. Not bad at all. I'm applauded with a mouthful of beer spilt over me and Tredd is sent to bed by a disappointed Georgie. Everyone else applauds me and Dakota's face pops up. Six. And with that the TV is turned off. After a few drinks we are sent off to bed.

Tomorrow is doomsday but will I be one of the ones who lives through it?

**A/N: I know short chapter because of my new story but next chapter is the bloodbath.**

**Review!**


	9. Welcome to the arena

**A/N: Okay reasonably short bloodbath chapter but it isn't the whole bloodbath. You will see at the end why I had to stop. Enjoy!**

"Time to get up," I hear Georgie say for about the tenth time but this time she is shaking my shoulders and I feel something hit my face. I pull my hand to my face in reaction and there is one small mark there. A tear. I bring myself to open my eyes where I see Georgie leaning over me. Tears are resting on the lids of her eyes just waiting to jump off and I feel like I'm going to cry myself. But why cry when I know I'm going to get out of this alive? I simply stare at her and she drags me into a long hug.. I cling onto her until she eventually lets go and after getting ready into some normal clothes I am taken into the dining room. There Dakota sits eating her cereal slowly and Tredd lies on the couch hung-over. I scan the room and notice Blue and Olive are bunched together watching the TV, Steff walks though the door and pats both of us on the shoulder.

"You'll be okay you know," she says smiling just a little, "we'll get you sponsors and you'll get out." She's right we just need to get past the bloodbath and try not to encounter any other tributes. We finish our cereal quite quickly and I notice that Blue and Olive are watching the training scores again. First up is Glimmer and Marvel who both receive a 9. Typical career score. The pair from district 2, Clove and Cato, just manage to outshine them and manage to get a 10 each. I presume Cato showed off his sword skills and Clove performed with a knife. Next up is Noah who gets a score of 5, only one less than me. I cross my fingers for Kalia who also gets a 5 and then it's onto the district four tributes. The boy, Ethan, manages to get an 8 and the girl, Talia, a 9. Chris gets a 7 and Finch gets a 5. A good score for him. Kara and her district partner, Jason, both get a 5 and the pair from seven, Leigha and Sam, get a 3 and a 4. The district 8 male, Samuel, did extremely well getting a 8 and his district counterpart, Mackenzie got a 6. Imanol gets a 6 and Annie gets a 7 from district 9 and then it shows me and Dakota getting a 6. Steff pats us on the backs once again to show us we done well and I have a feeling she was so drunk last night she didn't really know what we got. Rue, the little 12 year old from 11, shocks everyone with a score of 7 and Thresh unsurprisingly gets an amazing score of 10. Everyone starts to rustle about not really caring about the district 12 scores until we see them: Peeta gets an 8 and Katniss gets a 12. We underestimated them.

Apart from a small discussion not much is said on the matter and we are taken out of the room to get on our flight to the arena. I'm separated from Dakota pretty soon and left with Tredd who is still very hung-over and the only communication he is giving me is a few slurred words.

"Remember..." he starts but stops for breath, "remember that if the rebellion plan fails we need you to win." And with that he collapses on the floor and is picked up by a nearby avox. What? if the rebellion fails he needs me to win? Why me? I turn around to ask him but the avox has already left and the man at the front of the hovercraft is beckoning me over with his hand.

I'm soon onto the hovercraft and a tracker is injected into my arm. After a horrible ride of sitting next to the twelve year old from district 4, (seriously that guy is quite intimidating) we make it to the arena and the windows are blocked out so we can't see what it is. We are all transported individually underground and soon I'm standing face to face with my godmother. Olive. She changes me into a storm grey jacket with blue stripes and after a few bits of advice a now familiar robotic voice tells me to stand in the pod. I press my hand up against Olive's on the glass until I can no longer and I manage to hear an 'I'll miss you.' She'll miss me, but does she think I'll be coming back. The pod begins to shoot up and I'm placed into the arena staring into the eyes of all the other tributes.

Sixty seconds is how long we have to stay here and I look for the axe in the cornucopia. There is an axe that rests on a small metal box just outside the cornucopia but I can already see that the boy from seven has his eye on it. I look around the circle of tributes and notice that most of my allies are close together while I'm on the other side by myself. I look to the careers who are all positioning themselves to run then there is people like Finch who are guaranteed to survive the bloodbath because she is facing towards the woods.

I look to the countdown and see the numbers ticking down ever so slowly and everything is silent giving me time to take a look at the arena that looks just like the woods back in district 10 that we are forbidden to go in.

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

GO! I jump off my platform and eye the competition to see where everyone is going and I can see Kalia laying on the floor and I can see the girl from eight running towards her. And Kalia was meant to be running for the axe. Decision made. I sprint off in the direction of the cornucopia jumping over things I don't want and don't need and then I see him. Sam from district seven picks up the axe and I have no choice. The axe is the only weapon with the right metal to mix with the liquid. I have to. I have to do it. I grip hold of his throat and slam him up against the walls of the Cornucopia but he continues to grip onto the axe tightly and I feel a rip in my trousers where the axe has cut through. I grip onto the handle of the axe and swing it towards him, the force of the impact makes him release it and my legs wobble underneath me as I see Sam fall to the floor in front of me.

Sam the mayor's son. Sam the boy who shouldn't have been reaped. Sam who only wanted to get out of the Cornucopia. Sam who's blood is covering the grass. Sam who I just killed.

I'm a murderer. I've let the games do this to me and until you do it you don't know how it feels. I can't stand and stare at the boy any longer and I begin to sprint away when I see the boy from district 9, Imanol. He stands over Katniss with some type of weapon but what really catches my eye is Clove. The girl who has hated me all along. The girl who is about to plant a knife into this boys back and I can't let her. I dive towards the boy and push him out of the way as the knife makes it's way past him.

"NO," I scream but it isn't only me who screams it as the knife lodges itself into Katniss Everdeen's skull. I might have saved Imanol but in the process I have killed Katniss. No I didn't Clove did, but I played a part in it. It doesn't take me long to realize that Clove has set her target on me and Imanol who is frantically shaking in my arms. I pick him up quickly and fling his shaking body over my shoulders. The axe remains steady in my hand but it only brings memories back of Sam. I run far enough into the woods until Clove decides to go back, she needs to find her allies and I need to find mine.

"Your okay now," I say to poor Imanol who is only twelve year old.

"You saved my life," he says gasping for breath.

"She was going to kill you now go," I say pushing him towards the woods. He scampers off and I judge it safe enough to make my way to the edge of the woods where the action is still unfolding. I watch nervously as Cato stalks the Cornucopia ground his sword clutched in his hand. My allies are together on the right hand side of the Cornucopia and I am not too far away from them. I run round the side of the woods until I get to them and I realize that we are hidden well in the shadows. Chris is not injured in the slightest, Kara has a few bruises on her arms and Kalia has a large cut along her chin.

"What happened to you and where's Dakota?" I ask looking around frantically.

"The boy from district 2," she says pointing towards the battle going on in the middle of the Cornucopia between Cato and Dakota. Dakota! No she can't die. I begin to sprint again towards the battle and as soon as I'm close enough I jump onto Cato's back knocking him instantly to the floor. My allies begin to run towards the battle as well and suddenly all of the careers appear. I kick Cato in the shin and run towards my allies dragging Dakota with me.

This is the battle. Eleven of this years tributes stand together a large space separating them. On one side me, Dakota, Kara, Chris, Kalia and on the other Marvel, Glimmer, Cato, Clove, Ethan and Talia. I look around at the already six dead bodies scattered around the cornucopia and I know that two of them are of my doing.

And as Cato lifts his sword in the air the battle commences.

**A/N: I really hoped you liked it and I hope you liked the ending which will surely make a good next chapter. Okay so Barney is a murderer. I didn't plan for Katniss to die but it kind of just happened. Sorry for anyone who wanted her to live. And that is the point which kind of made everything go off canon. **

**Also as I said there has been six deaths so far with two of them Sam and Katniss. You know that there will be deaths next chapter and you know that not all of Barney's allies aree going to survive. **

**Make sure you give me a review!**


	10. Battle to the death

Cato holds an evil grin as he lunges forward and the sword grips onto the tight fabric of Dakota's shirt. The metal doesn't manage to get her flesh but he drags her closer to her and for some reason I don't move. No-one does. Then he slices it out and she gasps and then I see it. Blood. Dakota's blood. It trickles down her trousers until on the floor and almost in synchronization with the blood she falls and then it triggers me. I grip onto the axe tighter and swing it towards Cato and I let it leave my grip. But I can see it is going to miss him as he ducks slowly and then it engraves itself into the neck of none other than Glimmer. The girl that has done nothing to me. She falls to the ground gasping for air and I expect her district partner to help her but instead all hell breaks loose.

The first to move is Clove and isn't so much a move but an action. She throws the knife to Kara who ducks easily and I find myself running towards Ethan. He holds a large spear in his hand and I grip it before the twelve year old has a chance to react. I hit him with the hilt of it and he falls to the ground clutching his stomach. I raise the spike above his head and I'm about to bring it down on him when I remember what I have don today. I killed Sam. I affectively killed Katniss however much I try to say it was Clove. I killed Glimmer. And now... Now I'm trying to kill Ethan. Until you are in this arena you don;t know what it can do to you. But maybe you can resist it.

Just before the spear makes contact with his head I grit my teeth and look at him. 'Run' I mouth to him and he picks himself up before scampering away. What is a twelve year old doing in the career pack anyway? Why did he volunteer? I hope I never find out what they do the kids in the career districts. Hastily I turn around and see Kara fighting Clove and Chris with Marvel. I don't think to look where Kalia is before I see Cato still standing over Dakota who is still bleeding and I run towards her. Not Cato but Dakota. In one swift movement I bring the spear down on his neck before thinking about Sam, Katniss and Glimmer and I think I've killed him as blood rises but instead I see it coming from his hand. He grips onto the spear and snaps it before my very eyes before turning to me and smiling evilly.

"She'll be dead soon 10," he says making a face like he is about to burst in fits of laughter. He takes a look around the battles going on around us and I know as soon as this battle is finished the cannon's will ring out and once again I'm brought back to Sam and Katniss and Glimmer and their faces will not disappear from my mind. The face of Sam as I stole the axe and slammed him against the Cornucopia. The face of Katniss as I pushed Imanol out of the way and the knife entered her skull. The face of Glimmer as the axe ripped the skin open in her neck. Soon maybe another face. Cato. Because if I am going to get out of this surely I will have to kill him.

"I have a name," I say to the sickening boy. He actually does laugh this time.

"What? Barney?" and he begins to laugh again. Not at me but my name and that's the name my parents chose. My parents - my Dad the rebel and my ever so sweet Mam. In that slight moment I build up all the anger I can and grip onto the spiked bit of the snapped spear on the floor. And as I look into Cato's eyes waiting for him to blink I hear a squeamish scream from behind me and by the look in Cato's eyes it's one of my allies. He begins to laugh and I lunge at him, just like he lunged for Dakota. I stick the spear right into his stomach and once again I think I have won until he rips his top off revealing the body armor.

Careers always come prepared. They must. I've seen it before. I've seen district 10 tributes thinking they've defeated one while all along the career has been playing them along and now I am one of them. My heart sinks in defeat as I wait for my fore-coming death. Cato draws his sword once again and I hear a deep breath that I can only think comes from him until he screams out in pain. My head rises and I hear the fights stopping behind me as everyone sees the knife protruding from Cato's thigh. Dakota rises onto her feet blood still dripping from her wound and she stabs him in the neck. No body armor there.

She shakes almost violently as she falls over onto Cato who is crushed underneath her. I turn around to the sight of my allies and find it is Chris who is dead on the floor. I walk steadily backwards until everything is in view. Dakota and Cato lieing on top of each other, both of them surely dead by now. Chris killed by the hand of Marvel who is now scavenging around the Cornucopia with Talia. Kara still fighting Clove and as the battle continues there is only going to be one outcome. I notice one absence though. Kalia. She was clever enough to escape the fighting but if I want this rebellion to work I must find her. She's the one who will get us sponsors.

I watch intently as Clove's knife finds it's way into the skull of Kara and she drops to the floor. Dead. The affect stuns me, I fall onto the ground and watch as Clove looks for me and I quickly crawl behind a tree. I watch as she makes her way other to Cato who she has now discovered dead, but the thing that hurts me the most is when she stabs Dakota again and again after finding out it was her who killed him. She stalks back to the Cornucopia to find Talia and Marvel kicking dead bodies out of her way as she goes.

I take one last look at Dakota, Chris and Kara before leaving into the woods with nothing. The three of them aimed to survive through the rebellion. We aimed to overthrow the Capitol and somehow I don't see this possible with just me and Kalia. And that's if I find Kalia. They must have all died knowing that I would hopefully carry on the promise but I know now that I will not go out of here with an axe because that is in Glimmer's neck and if I can't go out of here with an axe then the only way I will be able to get out of here is by winning the normal way.

As the day goes on it gets darker and darker but my thirst and hunger is soon dealt with by the discovery of a lake and some berries. I camp near the lake for the night and at every sound hope to see Kalia bounding out of the woods whispering for me but in stead the first sound I hear is of the Capitol anthem.

All insects seem to turn silent as it booms across the arena and the symbol appears in the sky. Earlier in the day I heard 11 booms and I already know the owners of seven of them and I still can't get out of my head that three of them were of my doing.

The first to appear in the sky is Glimmer. I feel a lump in my throat and I close my eyes until I judge that the next person is up. I open my eyes and Cato stares back. Even in his picture an evil smile appears across his lips and in me I can't find one bit of forgiveness for him. It first occurs to me that two careers have died in the first day, a rarity. But because of the battle it is quite understanding. I half expect Kalia or Noah to come up next but instead I see Chris and I don't know whether to feel happy or sad that Noah is not dead. Obviously I don't want him to die but I might have to kill him.

No. I won't kill another soul until the last two and if I see Noah I will ally with him. After Chris's face disappears it is replaced by Kara. The faces of my allies seem to scar me but I try to be brave as her district partner's face pops up. This is the first death I didn't know about and to be honest I didn't see him as much as a threat.

The girl from seven appears next and I recognize her as one of the dead bodies that Clove kicked out of her path while on the way to Marvel and Talia. It is the next face that haunts me most though. Because as I killed Sam I was touching him, breathing the same air as him. I killed him in broad day light in front of the whole of Panem. I close my eyes while the memories flood back.

Sam from district seven picks up the axe and I have no choice. The axe is the only weapon with the right metal to mix with the liquid. I have to. I have to do it. I grip hold of his throat and slam him up against the walls of the Cornucopia but he continues to grip onto the axe tightly and I feel a rip in my trousers where the axe has cut through. I grip onto the handle of the axe and swing it towards him, the force of the impact makes him release it and my legs wobble underneath me as I see Sam fall to the floor in front of me.

I know that the memory will haunt me for life now.

I'll have to deal with it if I want to win.

Up next is the two faces from district 8 and I know that the only face to appear after them is Katniss. It suspires me that district 8 are gone after both scored better than me in training but then again Cato died. The last face to come up is Katniss and my guilt fades away as the anthem rings out.

That leaves Marvel, Clove, Kalia, Noah, Talia, Ethan, Finch, Annie, Imanol, Me, Rue, Thresh and Peeta. I know that I'm not going to be able to kill all of these people. I've already saved Ethan and Imanol but I will I be able to do it again?

As the night goes on I inspect the lake to see if anyone is taking water from it and the first person to do so is Peeta. He runs up to it, unharmed, and gulps much down. I freeze in my position until he disappears and after another half an hour I begin to fall asleep.

About ten minutes later I feel something tapping on my shoulder and my eyes open to a blur but also a tint of orange. I can hear steady breathing and I stiffen up knowing there is someone else here. The person hasn't;t killed me though. Is that a good sign? Or is it a career who just wants my death to be a good show for the Capitol?

"I saw the battle," the voice speaks, "I'll be your new ally if you want?" the person who I now realize is a girl offers.

I find myself nodding my head and for some reason trusting her, "who are you?"

"I'm Annie Thurman," she says sweetly. The image of the girl from district nine with ginger hair and scattered freckles appears in my mind and I smile. I lean backwards in the camp to see the might of the moon hit her face and she sees mine. She pulls a pair of night vision goggles off and smiles like me.

Her hand appears in front of me and I grasp it. I think I've found myself a new ally.

**A/N: Yeah so Dakota, Chris and Kara are dead and so is Cato! I hoped you liked it and I hope you like the sound of Annie his new ally and I hope you are happy with the turnout of who's left. Review please.**


	11. Sharing the grain

When I wake up in the morning I am quite shocked to be in the situation I'm in. When Annie came I promised myself I would stay asleep all night in fear that she would backstab me (literally), but here I am lying next to the fiery haired girl like she an old mate. I don't know what it was that convinced me to fall asleep. If it was my mind playing tricks with me; pretending it was Dakota, pretending I was just back home. I don't know. But I do know that now I can trust this girl, she could have killed me if she really wanted to but she didn't. And that's what matters.

I sit up and stare at her eyes that are so gently closed a fly could probably pry them open. The only thing that warns you that she is alive is her stomach moving up and down ever so slightly while not a breath leaves her mouth or her nose. I look at her skin and how fresh it seems, like she just jumped out of a bubble bath in the Capitol. I examine close and not a scratch can be seen. It makes me wonder what this girl did when she ran away from the Cornucopia. This arena is full of dirt and grass but she doesn't have one thing that suggests she has been anywhere near it. Her clothes as well, not a crease, not even her boots which look like they haven't tread on soil. The more I look at Annie the more I wish she would wake up so I can ask her question after question.

I wait for not much longer before deciding to leave my bush-like camp. I crawl out of it slowly and stare at the lake which doesn't move at all. I quickly search through Annie's bag and find a water bottle and some iodine. Perfect. I steadily crawl down to the bottom of the water and begin to fill the water bottle when I see the state of my skin. Compared to Annie I look disgusting. I fill up the rest of the water bottle and clean my arms and legs. A drop of iodine later and the water is safe to drink. I'm careful not to drink too much and I only have a little but at a time. I drink about half of the bottle before heading back to the bush where Annie is beginning to stretch her arms out and I see a large birth mark on the palm of her hand.

"Morning," she says in a tired voice. It doesn't even sound like she knows she is in the Hunger Games and since she has came here I haven't sensed any worry at all.

"Morning," I reply. In not too long she is up on her feet and has her backpack slung over her shoulders. She pops a strawberry into her mouth and offers me one.

"Where are we going?" I ask taking the strawberry out of her hand.

"To get some food," she says like there is a shop just round the corner.

"Where from?" I say beginning to walk after her.

"There's a grain field just along here," she says smiling.

"And what do you expect to do with a grain field?" I ask and she begins to laugh.

"I'm from district 9. We specialize in grain," she says still laughing but she sees I am confused still, "we can make bread with it." Oh... I smile at her and she begins to laugh again. Her laugh... Her laugh is similar to Dakota's laugh. Dakota. I try to remove the image in my mind of Dakota but it comes back and stays there. Memories flood in like a terrible wave and it almost knocks me off balance because not only am I thinking of Dakota but Kara and Chris and Sam and Katniss and Glimmer. And I can't help but think that I have a part in all of their deaths.

I'm suddenly brought out of my thoughts by Annie who grips onto my shirt and drags me into the closest bush. I'm about to ask what's going on when I hear the sound of footsteps, quite a few of them. Then I hear voices as well.

"So which weapons have we got?" a boys voice asks which can only be Marvel. Chris. Marvel killed Chris. At this moment I resist the urge to jump out of the bush and attack him. The footsteps stop and as I peer out of the bush I find it quite funny to see that the careers are counting on their fingers.

"Thirteen," Talia answers.

"No, because the axe got taken away with Glimmer's body," Clove buts in and my heart sinks. The axe. If I had any chance of escaping this arena without having to win it was with the axe but now it's gone. The chances of getting sent an axe and the liquid in sponsors is impossible now with only me and Kalia left of the alliance. Anyway when me and Kalia are not together as allies the mentors aren't;t aloud to work together. At the moment Tredd will be with whoever Annie's mentor is.

"Oh yeah," Talia says dumbly before continuing to walk. Marvel and Clove follow and it isn't for another five minutes that we decide to come out of the bush.

"That was a close call," I say and all Annie does is nod her head.

The walk to the grain field turns into more of a hike as we make our way up small hills and I begin to wonder if Annie is certain there is even a grain field here.

After another twenty minutes or so I bring myself to ask the question, "do you know where we are going?"

"Yeah," she says sounding quite confident, "this is where I went when I escaped the bloodbath. When I arrived my mentor sent me a sponsor gift with a water bottle in telling me to find water then come back here and he'll have enough sponsor money for the equipment." After this long explanation I find myself walking more quickly and it isn't long before we come across a large grain field. My eyes open at the sight of things Annie will be able to make with this.

She pauses at the top of the hill and begins to speak again, "Back in district 9 this is what it looks like. The stuff doesn't take long to make because a device was made so it is quicker when I begin to harvest it should only take an hour."

We stand just for a bit and at first I don't realize why until a silver parachute lands elegantly in Annie's hand and she slowly opens it revealing a few things that I believe you need for harvesting. We begin to walk forward when our eyes are reverted to a dark figure making his way around the field.

"That's the one problem you see," she says sighing, "district 11 is very similar to district 9. Thresh has found his habitat here and I think he plans to stay." We watch Thresh as he begins to eat something and makes his way around the fields until he sits down on a strange piece of grass protruding from the floor. Annie walks down the hill to do whatever she has to do and about five minutes later she walks back up.

"Bread should be ready in about an hour," she says in a relaxed tone. Nothing seems to bother her here. We watch Thresh as he just sits on his mound of grass and I soon find myself not looking at Thresh any longer but instead what he is sitting on. The grass underneath him is rising at a large rate and it isn't until the swarms of fireants make their way out of the mound that he jumps onto his feet. Fireants are one of the Capitol's creation and when they go on your skin they burn on it making it hard to move without constant pain. Thresh runs about the fireants which chase after him but he swings his sword this way and that. He strikes some on the ground and they seem to scream. I turn to Annie who is watching the entire thing go on and then I see her eyes as Thresh makes his way closer and closer to where she was harvesting.

Before I can stop her she makes her way down the hill and strikes out at the fireants with a knife I never knew she has. She stabs many different ones while I stay sitting on the hill watching the whole situation unfold in front of me. I watch as Annie takes on a large section while Thresh is round the corner taking on another and as they get closer and closer I don't think they realize how close they are to each other until they bump shoulders but only Thresh turns around. What is she doing?

Now I stand up as Thresh stares down at Annie who continues to fend away the fireants and I'm wondering why he hasn't killed her yet. I find myself running down the hill towards the two of them and I see how angry and surprised Thresh looks. He sees me now as well and although I'm older than him he is a hell lot more taller than me. I grip onto Annie's shoulder and drag her back with me.

"What are you doing?" I whisper into her ear while still looking at Thresh who has since managed to destroy most of the fireants and the few that remain have gathered together back at the grass mound.

"I was just trying to save our bread," she says through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, well we're going to get killed now," I almost shout but realize that Thresh is here so choose not to. Annie doesn't say another word and I continue to drag the two of us back as Thresh turns his attention towards us.

"My field," he yells at us in such a patronizing way that Annie jumps out of my arm and begins to run away frantically. I can only choose to do the same but the whole time Thresh's steady footsteps follow me until the sword cuts open my flesh.

**A/N: Bit of a cliffhanger there at the end. I thought I'd include Thresh into it as in the book it says that he is probably in the grain field. Yeah and I hope you are liking Annie. Please review to tell me what you think.**


	12. The Hero of the time

**A/N: I know I haven't updated in a while but I thought I would. It's short but at least I updated. Please leave a review at the end as well.**

The blade of his silver sword cuts through my calf, like a warm knife through butter. The pain sends me crashing to the ground and I only have time to release a little yelp before his hands grip hold of storm-grey jacket. All I've done, for nothing. All Dakota and Tredd and Steff and Olive and my Dad... my amazing Dad, have done for me. I let my eyes open and see Thresh raise his sword slightly, my time has come. Maybe Kalia will win. Maybe she can help with the rebellion. What could I have done anyway? Me, the district 10 male. The plan was faultless until you looked at the people who were actually involved. We never though through the menacing careers who would tear us apart. We never though of the axe being taken away in Glimmer's bloody neck. We never though that I would be so drowned in guilt by Sam's death that when it came to having my calf torn open by Thresh, I wouldn't fight back.

It's a good thing Annie's here then, isn't it.

"Barney?" I hear a sweet voice echo into my eardrums and falsely mistake it for my Mother until me eyes flutter open for me to see Annie. "You're okay?" she says patting me once on the head before standing up and wandering over to a little stack of supplies which is buried under some trees.

"Thresh?" I say leaning up and feeling my calf where a fresh smelling bandage has been placed.

"He's in the grain field," she says turning her eyes to her left.

"And where are we?" I say looking at my surroundings which mainly consists of plain grass.

"Far away from Thresh," she mumbles and I notice another bandage, not on me but one covering the majority of her forehead. Surely we must have gotten some sponsors, but how?

"What happened to your head?" I say beginning to crawl over, "How long have I been out for?"

"Just a few hours," she says plainly, "and I'm fine, don't worry. Just a run in with Thresh..."

"Did you save me?"

"He was going to kill you," she says clearly trying to play down the whole 'saviour' aspect of what has happened. "The sword was seconds away from your neck so I hit him and ran."

"And, did he not follow us?" I ask quite loudly and try to quiet myself down towards the end of the sentence.

"Nope, it seems he just wanted to warn us off. I got here a few hours ago and we got a few sponsors. Heaven knows how," she says actually looking up to the sky. I wonder if she believes in some sought of God. In district 10 there is no belief system but it could all be different in district 9.

"Has anyone died?" I say hesitantly but Annie quickly shakes her head.

"The career tributes were walking past again though, they were saying something about hunting down Imanol..." she quiets down and begins to mumble something to herself. I completely forgot that her district partner was still alive. That poor boy that I saved on the first day only to have Clove kill Katniss in the process.

"Do you know him?" I say shyly. "Like, I mean, at home, in district 9?"

"Kind of, district 9 isn't particularly large. Well, not compared to what we are told other districts are like. Have you heard about district 4, apparently the beach stretches on for miles." I can tell she is trying to stay off the subject of little Imanol so instead of trying to bring up another subject we just sit in silence. Every now and again I stand up to test out my leg, get some food or go for a wee. This process continues for quite a while until I hear a rustling of some leaves. At first, I just think it is Annie coming back from wherever she went but after a few minutes I see her sitting down on the grass making some type of chain. So, what's the noise?

"Annie," I whisper but she doesn't respond, instead a small smile comes across her face as she holds up a daisy necklace and hangs it around her neck delicately. "Annie," I repeat a tiny bit louder, her ear twitches once and her head turns towards me. My finger points shakily towards the rustling sound and, Annie being Annie, gets up and begins to walk around the large bush that separates us from a little hill. I quickly follow her around the bush until the noise comes into sight. A tribute.

The girl, who like Annie has bright ginger hair, picks herself up hastily and sprints around the bushes before we have a chance to react. A frightened look scars her face and I soon lose sight of her because of the annoying bush. My feet pick up pace quickly enough though and I see her taking a little bit of bread from our supplies before scarpering off into the woods about fifty metres away. I drop down my fists, that I realize our clenched next to my chest and let an awkward smile appear on my face. I should have remembered Finch, from the interview she proclaimed how sly and elusive she was. Her tactics are simple.

"Oh well," Annie yawns before walking over to check no other secret stealers have been tampering with out supplies. "It's not like the poor girl is a threat."

"She could be," I say a frown urging to appear on my face but after knowing what Annie did for me today I chose to just sit back down.

"She'll do well, don't get me wrong but I saw the whole bloodbath unfold, Barney. She stood on her platform for a few seconds before collecting a few supplies. She had the chance to kill that little lad from four and Peeta from twelve but let both opportunities go. Trust me, she doesn't want to kill and let's face it, is it possible to get out of these games without killing?"

"I've already killed?" I mumble.

"As have I," Annie says which is quite a revelation to me. I fail to hide the shock in my eyes and I can see she is about to explain. "It was the girl from 8, Mackenzie." Not as much of an explanation as I thought she was going to give.

"Was it necessary?" I ask sharply but begin to feel so hypocritical. Was killing Sam necessary? No. I could have yanked the axe from his arms, I was being powered by steroids at the time. But, I decided to do away with him.

"My life or hers," Annie says pulling an apple out of her pocket and beginning to carve the skin off gently. I pick up all the peelings as she goes and put them in a make-shift bowl (a bird's nest) before the two of us begin to feast on it. The taste is a nice experience and with a quick change of lighting by the gamemakers, the anthem rings out in the arena. Birds rise into the sky, surrounding the panem symbol but no faces appear in the sky and within the following minutes the sky gets darker and darker and the temperature gets colder and colder.

"It's cold," is all I can say as my teeth chatter and my lips turn a frightening white. I rub my sore thumbs over my frozen ears in hope to warm them but to no avail. I see Annie jogging on the spot to warm herself but nothing seems to work. A few hours later I find myself staring into the sky in hopes of a sponsor but once again to no avail. By now my lips have became quite solid and the grass has basically turned into icicles.

"Barney," Annie says and I turn my head trying to find her in the darkness. "We need a sleeping bag."

"I know," I reply as the torture which is snow begins to fall upon the ground.


End file.
